The Light of Civilization All Alone in the Night
by Shadow Master
Summary: BtVS/Andromeda/Babylon 5 The dark and terrible storm is coming. It is something that has the potential to leave the galaxy in ruins. However the future is unpredictable and strength can come from the unlikeliest of places.
1. A lit match

"The Light of a Civilization All Alone in the Night" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

(BtVS/Andromeda/Babylon 5)

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted materials contained herein. They are the rightful property of their respective creators and associated companies. I make no profit off of this whatsoever. I write for my own amusement and for those that enjoy reading my stories.

Note: There are a few things I'd like to point out. First is the fact that I will take some liberties with the facts from all three shows so for those of you who insist upon fanfic writers adhering strictly to canon you'd best go elsewhere for your fanfic reading. Secondly while I know that officially Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda aired from October 2000 to May 2005 I would ask you to just take what comes as an AU where all five seasons had aired by the time the Halloween Episode of BtVS occurred. So suspend your disbelief, overlook the details and just enjoy the story I have to tell you.

_The Light of a Civilization All Alone in the Night_

_**October 31**__**st**__**, 1997**_

_**The Student Lounge of Sunnydale High School, 1:00p.m, Xander's P.O.V**_

"Shut up and sit down! All of you!" yelled Principal Snyder as he glared all twenty-four people in front of him into sitting down.

_And this day was starting out __**so**__ well! _Xander thought as he sat down next to Willow and Buffy on the couch they'd called dibs on by arriving earlier than the others.

It had been almost half an hour ago when the troll had come over the personal address system summoning a list of people to the student lounge while making it clear that refusal would not be wise. While some of the dimmer students sounded happy about being able to skip out on classes, even if it was only for a little while, those with an average or higher IQ knew that being summoned by Snyder not of the good. Sadly the Scooby gang knew that it'd only bring more trouble down on their heads if they blew off the mini-Hitler. So, with both dread and reluctance, they went to the student lounge and awaited the Principal so that they could see what sort of hellish thing he had in store for them. Looking about, he could see that teachers were present along with students making him wonder if this was going to be so brief that no classes would be cancelled or if the remaining students had been let go for the day.

_I guess I'll have to just wait and see like everyone else. _He thought as he watched the troll pick up a box with a single hole on the top a little bigger than a person's fist.

"Normally at this time of year, some of you would be 'volunteering' to chaperon a group of spoiled brats for Halloween. However one of you delinquents whined loud enough to the school board about this so I can't recruit you for the job like you deserve," Snyder said with his usual scowl firmly in place. "Instead I've been allowed to make a list of troublemakers and 'punish' them by making them escort those ankle biting misfits around. You'll be separated into groups of three with a member of the faculty supervising you so you don't corrupt those kids with your delinquent ways."

With those words Snyder began to group students together and assign them teachers. Fortunately the Scooby gang got grouped together with Giles as their supervisor so they could just treat the whole thing as just another patrol except with elementary students tagging along. He didn't really pay attention to the other groupings but was happy to see Larry stuck with them since the jock deserved to have his Halloween night spoiled. It took a minute or two but eventually all the groups were listed by the principal and he waited for the sneering dismissal or last few details.

"Now to make sure that you don't pollute their minds too badly, I've taken the liberty of asking members of the student body who actually manage to give me something to take pride in to select the theme of the costumes each group will wear," Snyder said with a hateful smile on his face. "In the interests of fairness, though, you will be picking your group themes at random from this box. Once you've made your selection, **I** will read it to the rest of the group so you truants can't trade your choice with another group. Now let's get this over with!"

It didn't take any of the Scoobies long to figure out who Snyder meant by students he could actually take some pride in. The only ones who fit that description were the ones who actually gave the troll something to gloat about to other members of the school board about or to other school districts. That meant the star jocks and eggheads making the various themes that might be contained in the box of a distinctly macho or nerdish persuasion. This made him cringe somewhat since he knew that while not completely unfamiliar with the theme's that sort of crowd would submit for consideration he knew people like Andrew and Jonathan had…unusual tastes. Still as he watched the Snyder appointed leaders of the group picked their themes and read them out to the rest of them he found they weren't too far off the mainstream. Battlestar Galactica, Rambo, Star Trek and the Justice League were the first four to be listed getting mixed reviews from the people who'd pulled them out of the box. Eventually though it was Buffy's turn as she was called up by a sneering Snyder who probably had a good idea of what possible choices were left inside the box. Watching his friend and personal hero reach into the box he hoped she chose a theme that he was an expert in because it'd be so cool to be able to pull a G-man on them and tell them all they needed to know.

It only took a moment but, when Buffy unfolded the piece of paper in her hands, the look of cluelessness on her face was enough to let him know that the title wasn't ringing any bells for her. Not that many of the things picked out by nerds or jocks would be familiar to her but he knew she wasn't as out of touch with the interests of her peers as some might think. The quips and puns she pulled during patrol showed that she knew most of the mainstream stuff, plus there were those movies that the gang had seen together so this would have to be something a little more off the beaten path. He didn't have to wait long to hear what theme had been chosen by the blonde Slayer since a single glare from Snyder prodded her into speaking.

"Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda," she said, sounding like she wanted the floor to open up and swallow her at the moment.

Not a good thing to think when you're within sprinting distance of a Hellmouth but, since nothing happened, he guessed that she lucked out.

With that she walked back to join him and Willow on the couch while Snyder called a student from the last group to select their theme. He could tell that the Slayer was bummed about not being able to enjoy her one night off the way she'd intended but he hoped she wouldn't be a complete wet blanket chaperoning the kids. It'd only take one person to spoil any sort of fun or levity that there might be in dressing up for Halloween and he'd be damned if he let his blonde buddy ruin it for the rest of them. If she stayed in this funk, he'd do his best to cheer her up even if it meant looking like a total idiot in front of her. It was part of his role as morale officer of the Scooby gang; to keep their spirits up when it felt like all that existed around them was darkness along with insurmountable odds. He'd do it and he dared anything or anyone to try and stop him.

"Don't worry, Buff'. I know the show pretty good and I promise that I'll help you put together something that's both stylish and capable of passing herr Snyder's inspection," he said, wrapping his right arm around her shoulders. "After all, the clothes they wear in the show aren't really all that different from what we wear today. Maybe a bit more leather than I'd like but nothing too out there."

This seemed to cheer her up and also get the attention of his bestest buddy Willow as well, so he felt that now since he had his foot in the proverbial door he'd best do what he could to widen the opening more.

"At least we won't be wearing jogging suits or multi-colored spandex," he said, looking at the other nitwits who'd been corralled into this assignment before looking the blonde up and down. "Though I know I wouldn't mind seeing you in some spandex, but I guess I'll have to settle for leather. Talk about win-win, eh?" For added comic effect he bobbed his eyebrows up and down to imply that he was thinking of things she would no doubt disapprove of.

The fact that he was thinking naughty thoughts about her only added to the performance.

"Pervert," Buffy said, lightly (for her anyway) slugging him in the shoulder with a small smile on her face.

"Now that you all have your theme assignments, you'll go to the address on the back of the pieces of paper to pick up your costume bundles," Snyder said with a growl that showed that even dealing out punishment like this wasn't enough to improve his mood. "Against my better judgment, you'll even be allowed to leave to prepare for the right now so long as you're back by four to pick up your group of brats. The costumes will be rentals so you better bring them back in **perfect** condition or I'll assign you detention until you're thirty! Dismissed!"

With that the students began to file out of the room, along with the teachers, until only the Scooby gang remained with the others looking like they were trying to figure out a way to free themselves from this assignment. Not that he entirely blamed them since no one liked being forced to jump through the troll's hoops but there wasn't anything he could think of to help them escape. For the time being, though, Snyder was the top dog at Sunnydale High School and held ultimate authority over both student as well as teachers. To defy him would give the moron all the ammunition he needed to make their lives even more difficult than he could at the moment. Still, he could at least try to make things a little easier for the others.

"How about you guys let me pick up the costumes while you go relax?" He said, taking the piece of paper from Buffy's hand, "I'll meet you at Buffy's place with the outfits."

"You sure, Xan?" Buffy asked, sounding like she didn't want to cause him any unnecessary trouble.

"No problem, Buff," he said before he prepared to head out the door of the student lounge. "I'll see you in thirty then?"

Seeing the nod from the others, he walked out the door and began to make his way to the nearest entrance/exit of the high school. He wondered what sort of outfits were a part of the Andromeda bundle and if they were of actual characters or just some generic pieces of the show's wardrobe. Personally he was okay with it either way since he could easily come up with an OC background story if he needed to. He also had a few in mind for the others but, when his mind thought up background stories, he couldn't help but also imagine how they'd look dressed up.

_Good times, they are a comin'!_ he thought with the image of Buffy in a sexily cut leather high guard uniform in his mind's eye with Willow dressed up like Trance or maybe Beka.

_**Ethan's Costume Shop, Ten Minutes Later, Behind the Cash Register, Ethan's P.O.V**_

"Why, thank you for providing me with the list of names Principal Snyder." Ethan said with greasy gratitude in his voice. "Have a nice day!"

With those words he hung up and sent a silent prayer of thanks to Janus that he had left school behind him a long time ago because any child forced to endure that man as their principal deserved a hefty amount of pity. Still, this little job he'd been hired for by the local high school provided him with a true opportunity that he could not afford to pass up. Originally he'd simply planned on opening a costume shop two weeks prior to Halloween and arranging that his only competition, Party Town, would be forced to shut down during those two weeks. After all, if he wanted to get the most chaos possible he had to sell as many of his enchanted outfits as he could and that wouldn't happen if the oblivious people of this town had an alternative. Now, though, he had a guaranteed set of twenty-four people who would wear complete costumes from his shop and surprise of surprises his old pal Ripper was the adult in charge of a group of teenagers one of whom was the town's resident Slayer. It was like Christmas and his birthday rolled up into one perfect day with the chance to play the mother of all pranks on his old chum. With this in mind he put a 'back in one minute' sign on the counter next to the cash register before going into the back room where the school's costume bundles were stored.

Picking up the one holding the Andromeda outfits, he laid them out on the table and pulled down the zipper on the plastic covering, exposing the costumes within. There were eight separate costumes within but four were made for women while the other four were for men since up, until now, he didn't know what the groups would be aside from the three to one student to teacher ratio. Now that he knew who'd be wearing these costumes, he could have a little fun with Rupert and his Slayer by adding a few extras. The first thing he did was throw in a few more of the costumes he'd gotten with the large bulk order he'd acquired from a client. Strictly speaking, he knew that only four costumes were needed but, with a little luck, if he put more of them in they'd pass them along to their friends, only adding to the chaos of the night. Then, once he'd filled the plastic covering as full as possible without making zipping it up too much of a bother, he went over to the spell ingredients to select those that would increase the potency of the spell on these outfits. This would increase the thoroughness of the changes to something beyond mere cosmetic changes or insertion of surface thoughts consistent with their characters. Normally when this spell was cast, there would be few if any lingering effects from the spell and those were said to fade within a week or two of the spell.

Now, though, for old Ripper's sake, he would make it so that there'd be as many leftover changes as he could manage without altering the spell too much.

While he liked to think of himself as an accomplished mage, he knew the inherent dangers in modifying a spell that you didn't create yourself. Making up a spell all your own was painstaking work, as it meant understanding the elements you were attempting to bend to your will as well as weaving each variable into the desired pattern without any unintended side effects. Still, tweaking the spell a bit wasn't beyond his abilities, especially since the spell book he'd gotten the enchantment out of specified the purpose of each ingredient, thus allowing him to know what he was increasing the potency of. He knew that physical changes would be difficult, if not impossible, for him to make permanent but the mental changes would be quite thorough if given enough time to settle.

He was just adding in the final touches when he heard the bell he'd placed on the main counter for customers who needed to see him immediately. He figured that it must be one of the students from the school come to collect their costume bundles so, sprinkling the last of the dust on the costumes, he zipped up the plastic covering and put it back on the hook on the wall. Walking over to the curtain, he pushed it aside to see a black haired young man with obvious hand me down clothes waiting patiently for him by the counter. It was a good thing that the school was footing the bill for the costumes because he'd risk losing quite a bit of cash letting someone as financially desperate as this lad have one of his costumes. It was true that he wasn't in this for the money so much as the entertainment that the spell would provide for him, along with the fact it would put him in good standing with Lord Janus, but a little bonus never hurt.

"Yes? How can I help you young man?" he asked as he raised his voice to get the lad's attention.

"I'm here to pick up the Andromeda costume bundle for my group from Sunnydale High School," the lad replied, turning to face him with a somewhat wary expression.

"Ah! I've been expecting you. Your principal called me a few minutes ago to inform me of the composition of each group," he stated with his usual businessman smile. "If you'll give me a moment, I'll just go get your bundle and be right back."

He returned to the back room he picked up the plastic covering containing the costumes and picked up the nearby bag containing the various props that went with them. It was a fairly large amount of equipment but the lad looked to be strong enough to carry it all without too much effort. Carrying it out into the main area of the store, he walked over to the young man before handing over both with all the good business manner he could muster.

"Here you go. Please be sure to return this in as good a condition as you can manage," he said, not really caring whether or not the outfits were returned to him one way or another.

"No problem. See ya," said the youth before he carried both burdens out the door.

Seeing the lad go, he looked about the store to see if there were any other opportunities for increasing the level of chaos that would be unleashed tonight. After all, as a loyal servant of Janus and a chaos mage, it was his duty to do the very best that he could no matter the circumstances.

_**The Summers Home, Twenty Minutes Later, The Front Porch, Xander's P.O.V **_

_Well this should be interesting._ He thought as he knocked on the front door of Buffy's home and waited for someone to answer.

It had been about twenty minutes since he'd left the costume shop with the outfits for Team Scooby and, while he hadn't looked into the plastic clothing bag containing the costumes themselves, he had been able to peek inside the prop bag and he liked what he saw. While he could see signs of the force lances and gauss guns being fake, they were remarkably realistic looking. In fact he'd say that if they set one of these props against the ones used in the actual TV show that even the big time studio people wouldn't be able to tell the difference between them. If the costumes inside the plastic clothing bag were anything like the props then the Scooby gang was going to look better than just about anyone else tonight, except maybe the other students who'd gotten roped in by herr Snyder. He might even be willing to try and convince the others to take a spin by the Bronze in their costumes if only to see what sort of reaction they'd get out of the party goers there.

Maybe.

Hearing a stampede of footsteps approaching the front door, he grinned a bit as he realized who was likely going to be on the other side when it opened. It wouldn't be Buffy because while the Slayer could be something of a lead foot when she walked, there was no reason for her to make a dash for the door. It wouldn't be Mrs. S since the older woman definitely was light on her feet and usually answered the door at a more casual pace than either of her two daughters. It could be Willow but he doubted it since his bestest bud would be on her best behavior while at the Summers home, so doing anything that could bother anyone else would be avoided by her. That left only one person who could be interested enough in getting to the door first when he was the only person being expected and so he braced himself for what was about to happen.

Like clockwork the door did open and a dark blonde blur shot out of the house before wrapping itself around his waist. Looking down, he wasn't surprised at all to see one Dawn Marie Summers hugging him for all she was worth as he held the bags away from his body so they wouldn't get or damaged. This was the sort of welcome he'd come to expect from the youngest Summers sibling ever since she moved here with her sister and mother about a year or so ago. She'd managed to knock him off his feet the first time and almost sent the two of them tumbling down the front steps had he not grabbed hold of the railing in time. Ever since then, whenever he had the smallest suspicion that she'd be the one opening the door for him, he'd made sure to be in the proper stance to receive her welcome so that there wouldn't be any sort of accidents.

"Hey, Dawn Patrol!" he said with his usual glad-to-see-you tone. "You ready for Halloween?"

"Sort of but I wanted to see what you were going as first before I made my decision," Dawn replied, finally letting him go and taking a step back.

"Why would you need to look at my outfit before choosing your own?" he asked, not quite seeing the connection between the two things.

"Because my mom has to go to some big thing at the gallery and can't take the butt pain out trick or treating so she'll be tagging along with us tonight," Buffy said as she made the trip from the living room to the front door.

He could tell that his blonde hero wasn't too happy about that because, while he knew that she cared about her younger sister, that didn't mean that they were all that close. From the usual sibling rivalry to Buffy being held accountable for Dawn's actions since she's the older sibling, it all made for a volatile sisterly relationship. When you added that to having her one free night a year taken away by Snyder and he supposed it just made the Slayer's mood all the worse. Hopefully once she got a look at her outfit for the night she'd perk up a bit and he was sure she would since every guy knew that nothing improved a woman's mood more than new clothes.

"Cool. I got the outfits so let's take a look at them and see who gets what," he said, nonverbally asking to be allowed to enter the house.

Taking her cue, she stepped to the side and, with Dawn practically joined at his hip, he walked into the house, angling towards the living room where he figured everyone was waiting. Looking around, he spotted Willow on the couch where she'd most likely been waiting along with Buffy while Giles sat in a chair taking with Joyce. As soon as the others saw them, he could tell he'd become the center of attention so he figured he'd better start with the big unveiling.

"Before we get to the costumes, I'm going to give you a bit of a background on the show so you're not totally clueless when you head out tonight," he said as he found a nearby coat hanger hook to put the bags on. "This show takes place a little over three thousand years in the future during a time in which many of the known worlds in this galaxy and several others are part of a democratic federation known as the Systems Commonwealth. It was big, as in three galaxies big, and lasted for about fifty-five hundred years from the time it was formed to when it was destroyed by the Nietzscheans."

"Nietzscheans? Is that a reference to Friedrich Nietzsche?" Giles asked, his interest in the back story of his costume going up considerably.

"As a matter of fact it is, G-Man," he said, smiling at the wince he produced in the man. "The Nietzscheans were a people who were big fans of that guy and really practiced what that guy preached."

"A rather disturbing people then," Giles stated with the knowledge of what each belief component was and how it could be applied for a people.

"True. Basically the show focused on how the Nietzscheans destroyed the main government of the time and this one captain worked to put it all back together again. Thing is he didn't have a full crew and what crew he did have didn't exactly believe in military discipline." He explained trying to condense the library of knowledge he had into as few words as possible, "A ship captain looking for the big score, a purple skinned girl with a touch of Harmony in her, a genius engineer with about the same luck I do with women, a monster trying to follow the path of a priest and the sole survivor of a decimated clan of Nietzscheans. Still they tried their hardest and managed the impossible by putting the shattered Commonwealth back together again."

For a couple of minutes no one said anything and he wondered if it was because they were stunned at his nerdy knowledge but then he saw a twinkle of something odd in Giles' eyes. Something that usually only showed up when a subject popped up that particularly caught his interest or tickled his fancy. Odd seeing as how the man had few positive things to say about American culture and generally couldn't understand what teenagers saw in modern mainstream forms of entertainment. As for the others he could tell that both Dawn and Willow had soaked up his briefing like a sponge while Buffy had likely only caught the basic facts while the rest just soared right over her head. It wasn't that she was a stereotypical dumb blonde or anything because she was comfortable going through her own routine without adding anything new. Buffy Summers didn't like change and, considering what change had done to her life so far, he couldn't blame her one bit. Change had happened when she'd become the Slayer, ripping her from her normal life and thrusting her into one where she had to fight monsters almost every night. Change had her family torn apart when her father had an affair with his secretary, resulting in a divorce that caused them to leave familiar L.A for a dangerous Sunnydale. If he'd had those things happen to him, he'd keep change away with a cattle prod and a stick of dynamite with the threat to use both firmly in his mind.

"W-well Xander, while my opinion of modern science fiction is somewhat low, I must say that your summary of this 'Andromeda' show has piqued my interest," Giles said, resettling his glasses a little higher on his nose.

"Yeah! It sounds great Xander!" Willow said with a smile on her face and sparkles in her eyes.

"I guess it's okay," Buffy said, looking like she really thought more of the show but didn't want to come off like a nerd or something.

"Count me in!" Dawn said but that hardly surprised him since he'd never known the youngest Summers to not like his ideas or plans.

"Well, far be it for me to go against the will of the majority. If there's anything left over after you all are finished looking through the costumes and props, I'll use it to make my own costume," Joyce said, making the opinion of the theme they'd been dealt unanimous. "Since you seem to know so much about the show, I think you should choose which costume suits each of us."

Words of agreement came from just about everyone else so he figured he was pretty much stuck doing what everyone else wanted.

"Alrighty, then, let's see what we have to work with," he said as he turned to the plastic bag and opened it up. "First we have what looks to be a dress uniform for a high ranking High Guard officer and it's definitely for a guy but it looks like it's for an admiral, so I guess this is yours, G-Man.

"Next is another High Guard uniform but this time it has a pin on it saying it's for a Captain so I call dibs on this one," he said, pulling out the costume and setting on another hook.

While he knew he couldn't quite match the physique of Kevin Sorbo, it was Halloween so a perfect match wasn't necessary. Plus, if anyone decided to make something of it, he could always claim to a clone of Dylan Hunt. Still, since he doubted anyone outside of the nerd patrol would get in his face about it, he'd go by Captain Dylan Hunt if anyone asked.

"Third in the bundle is definitely meant for a female and given the fact that there are arm braces with bone spikes coming out of them, I'd say this is a Nietzschean outfit," he said before taking in the size of the thing. "I think this is yours, Buff, but where the guy got your measurements I do **not** know."

All of them took a moment to try and figure out where the store owner could have gotten them and collectively shuddered in disgust at the possibilities that involved Snyder.

"Alright, quickly moving away from that due to the 'ick' factor there, I'm a bad guy?" Buffy asked, taking the outfit and testing the flexibility of the bone spikes a bit.

"Not necessarily. You could say you're from one of the few Prides that chose to remain loyal to the Commonwealth or that you're an outcast of the Drago-Kazov Pride seeking to destroy them utterly for their betrayal of you and your parents," he shrugged, trying to create an original character back story the Slayer would like. "After all, the show had plenty of examples of Nietzscheans who were respectable and considered good guys or gals."

This brightened up the blonde quite a bit as she draped the costume across her lap and waited for the next outfit to come out of the bag.

"Hmmm. Looks like we got two or three extra outfits in here. I guess the guy made a mistake," he said as he noticed that the plastic clothing bag wasn't quite as empty as it should have been. "ANYway, here's an outfit for you, Willow, and judging by the abundance of purple as well as the tail dangling from the back, I'd say you'll be going as one Trance Gemini tonight."

"Who's she?" Willow asked sounding somewhat… unenthusiastic about the outfit.

"Well, judging by the outfit by that point in the series, she was the ship's environmental and life support officer as well as xenobiologist, botanist and doctor," he replied, remembering the first two seasons of the show. "Personality-wise she's a little ditzy and mousy but on the whole she's a cool enough character. Has some sort of weird precognitive ability that makes her real good at picking the right road to go down ninety percent of the time. It's the other ten percent that usually rears its head at the worst possible times, though."

While this didn't necessarily make his bestest bud feel any worse about the outfit, it was clear she have a case of the warm fuzzies, so putting the Trance costume down he began looking through the rest of the costumes and props for something that might be a little more appealing to the redhead. There were a lot of force lances and communicators, as well as few gauss guns, but then he found something that brought a big smile to his face. It was a disc about a quarter of an inch thick and about an inch and a half in diameter with a silver circle on the outside but a bronze circle on the inside. He knew what it was immediately and with that knowledge came an idea for Willow's costume that he was sure she'd like if he could convince her to borrow some of Buffy's cloths to complete the look. Grabbing two gauss pistols while he was at it, he then turned to his oldest friend immediately imagining how she'd look when all was said and done.

"How about this then: you'll be one Wilhelmina Valentine, cousin to Beka Valentine from the show, an information broker as well as a freelance thief always on the lookout for the 'Big Score' as they call it," he explained as he rattled off the idea he'd come up with. "Thanks to her two respective lines of work, she's used, stolen or had to repair just about every piece of tech in the known worlds. After all, if you're going to get info or steal something, there are a variety of things you need to know."

This definitely perked the redhead up quite a bit just like he figured it would since the combination of tech know how and the sexiness of a female thief would appeal to brainy girl. While she was still, for the most part, the mousy genius, she was before Buffy showed up there were signs that she was growing as a person and if she could go out in public with cooler clothes it'd be a big step.

"You'll have to borrow some of Buffy's clothes probably, since no one in the TV show wore clothes like yours but I'm sure if the two of you talk it out you can find an outfit that both of you can agree on," he said as he passed her the guns and the dataport prop.

"I'll take the Trance outfit then!" Dawn said as she grabbed the purple themed outfit off the floor and locked it into a death grip.

"Well, I'll probably have to shorten the legs and arms a bit but it should work." Joyce said, smiling at the way her youngest was acting.

"She'll need to put on this purple face paint and lipstick, too, but it shouldn't be too much of a hassle to wash off since she just needs to put it on the spots the costume doesn't cover," he said, pointing out the bulge in the outfit where he'd spotted a small make up bag hanging from the clothes hanger.

He looked into the plastic clothing bag to see what was left and found it odd that there was at least three costumes still in there and even outfitted with the necessary props there'd still be some left over. Looking over to Mrs. S for a moment, he decided to see if there was an outfit for her that was the right size and might suit her. There was one right at the back that looked like something that he'd seen Tyr wear in the show but, judging by the cut of the fabric, it was definitely meant for a woman. Feeling around where the coat hanger would be, he could feel arm braces similar to the ones that Buffy had for her outfit. That pretty much gave him what he needed to come up with a back story for the costume and it fit, considering what Joyce's relationship with Buffy was.

"Here you go, Mrs. S. You can be the matriarch of the Pride Buffy's character belongs to. Basically the role of the matriarch is to both make sure that only couples who will produce children that will improve the strength of the Pride are allowed to come together and to remove weak members whose genes will only weaken the Pride," he explained as the Summers matriarch took the costume. "Basically any marriages or even romantic relationships that involved Pride members needed to be approved by her before they'd be allowed to develop."

This, of course, didn't meet with Buffy's approval since there was little doubt that if she ever met Angel then if she'd really been a Pride matriarch as there was no way she'd approve of the pairing. After all, a corpse with a soul only had dead flesh for a body so reproducing would be beyond Deadboy's abilities, thus a relationship between him and Buffy would not benefit the Summers Pride in the least.

He couldn't say that this didn't give him a happy.

With all the costumes handed out, he then went to the prop bag and began to divide up the contents amongst the group. He made sure each of them had a force lance or gauss gun of some kind and then picked apart what remained in the bag by using their characters to decide who got what. The more engineering or useful thief items went to Willow while the fake knives went to Buffy and Joyce. He gave Giles one of the devices he believed were communicators but, seeing as how there were never any real close ups done on the equipment on the show, they could have been some sort of sensor devices. Eventually he reached the bottom of the bag and while the others would no doubt have a bit of trouble figuring out where to put everything he was sure they'd manage just fine.

"Well we only got… an hour before we need to be at the school to pick up our group gang so we should probably get dressed now," he said before grabbing his Dylan Hunt outfit and accessories. Dibs on the bathroom!"

Amidst the female outcries, he couldn't help but smile thinking that this was going to be a night to remember.

_**A Sidewalk in the Residential Area of Sunnydale, Two Hours Later, Dawn Summers' P.O.V**_

_It might be a pain having to deal with all these kids but I'm also out with __**MY**__ Xander, so it's already the best night I've had all week!_ Dawn thought as she walked down the street with her crush hand in hand.

He'd put up a bit of a fuss early on when they were walking to the high school but eventually she managed to cute him into giving in. From there they'd been inseparable and, while Buffy and Willow were in the same area as them, they had problems of their own to deal with so they couldn't do much more than glance at them every so often. She knew that Willow had been looking at her with narrow eyes because she had this whole thing for her best friend but, quite frankly, the girl only had herself to blame for the current state of things. If she had more than friendship feelings for Xander, she should have acted on them by now rather than twiddling her thumbs like she had. It was a good thing that the redhead and Mr. Giles went a couple of streets over five minutes ago because it had been seriously spoiling her mood to get the green eyes of jealousy on her so often. As for her sister, well, she was being her usual big sister self, which meant that thoughts of boys and dating were out of the question for her. So when the possibility of her falling in love with a guy she knew came up, Buffy was the ultimate grump, either saying such a relationship was impossible or saying that she shouldn't be thinking of such things at her age. She didn't realize that, even if she was a couple years younger than Xander, it didn't matter so long as true love existed between the two of them. Besides, it was only a couple of years and considering that she theorized that her sister was actually dating her so-called history tutor Angel, her older sibling had no room to criticize her choices in the area of who her future husband would be.

"Alright, kids, we've only got an hour to get back to the LZ for pick up," Xander said, falling back into his role of being a High Guard Captain. "Let's get this street and then head on back, okay?"

The kids, of course, gave out cries of complaint since they no doubt wanted to get as much candy as possible and didn't want to go back until they were ready to. However a single glare from Xander got them to fall in line like good little brats as they went off in different directions to different houses. While she knew that Xander might have looked like a jerk to the kids but she knew that he was just being firm with them and that was sometimes necessary when dealing with immature brats. For a moment she let herself wonder what it would be like in a decade or so when they had kids of their own and had to take them out for Halloween. It was a nice dream and one she was determined to make reality. Some would wonder why she said a decade into the future and not six or seven years and the answer is simple: she's smarter than her sister. She knows that Xander won't even look in her direction until she got a few more upgrades from the puberty fairy and, even then, he'd wait until she reached the legal age of consent for the state of California. Then, of course, there was the fact that they'd want to at least get jobs as well as a place to call their own before starting a family together. Unlike Buffy, who tended to not think past the end of the month, she'd actually planned the next few years of her life with room for changes depending on what happened.

For now, though, she'd enjoy this one night while it lasted.

She was just about to say something to Xander when something slammed into her from behind, filling her vision with light and her body with unimaginable heat. Pain thrummed through her body as flashes of images and sounds flickered by her mind's eye almost too fast for her to make anything out. She could barely feel Xander's hand grasping her own tightly and, as the feeling of fire grew within her, eventually she could not feel even that. Higher and higher the fires of pain rose higher with the light surrounding her growing brighter along with it until she could bear neither any longer. Raising her face to the sky above, she let out a scream that filled the air in all directions in an effort to empty her body of the inferno burning within her.

Thus a beam of golden light wrapped in arcs of green energy shot ever higher into the sky until it reached the outer edges of the atmosphere.

There did the fabric of the universe did twist, did turn and finally with an implosion of energy did bring something truly wonderful into being.

At that moment all across the town of Sunnydale, anyone who purchased so much as a single part of their costume from the store known as Ethan's changed. The effects varied, it was chaos magic after all, with some of the most thorough transformations coming from wearing a single item while those whom had gotten their entire costume were only changed superficially. Nevertheless, the effects were felt throughout the area, right up to the edge of the edge of Sunnydale itself, leaving none who bore the mark of Janus untouched.

For six people in particular the event marked the point at which their fates transcended what had previously been the paths they would walk down… much to the frustration of certain higher beings that thought they had the power to determine the destinies of mortals with unshakable power.

_**The Streets of Sunnydale, After the Chaos Spell Has Taken Full Effect, **_

_**Elizabeth of Pride Slayer P.O.V**_

_Grrrr! Someone is going to hurt for this,_ Elizabeth thought as the pain that had brought her to her knees faded.

As the pain hastened its departure, she immediately began to evaluate the situation based on her last memories and what her senses were telling her right now. Her last memories were of heading down to the slipfighter launch bays of her Pride's flagship as a battle group belonging to those inbred Drago-Kazovs was about to begin attacking. It had been only days since their spies in the other Pride's had informed them that some of the stronger one's had amassed a large feet in secret. Her mother, the Pride's matriarch, had been furious that their spies had been so late in informing them of this development in time to prevent it. The exact number of ships was unknown but their sources estimated it to be well over eight thousand and all of them were outfitted for war. More information on this build of up of arms was not possible, though, since their spy in Orca Pride had been discovered mid-transmission and slain. With their plans in danger of being exposed before they were ready to act, the disloyal mutts would no doubt accelerate their plans and move against them. Her Pride's Alpha had ordered the Commonwealth notified of this troubling discovery but, to their surprise, they'd discovered that precautions had already been put in place along the edges of her family's territory, preventing that either by transmission or ship.

Then the filth had the gall to be 'kind' and offer one last chance to join them in their insurrection against the Systems Commonwealth. It had been sickening to stand in the throne room and listen along with her parents as the commander of the advancing forces made a contemptible effort at sounding like he was only looking out for Pride Slayer's well-being. However the Alpha was much like her in many ways and, once the windbag commander finished speaking, he was told that this 'misguided' Pride would keep his kind words in mind when the last of his ships exploded. It was with these words that the confrontation between their fleet of forty ships would be pitted against an enemy fleet of a hundred. It was not an impossible situation and it had been left to her to lead Red Squadron in an attempt to make it past the enemy fleet to seek out Commonwealth reinforcements. Their Pride's warships could hold the enemy at bay for a while but if the rest of the traitors heard that their little fleet was having trouble, they'd send more ships to make sure the mission succeeded. That had been her motivation as she'd turned the final corner of the ship with the expectation of seeing the entrance to the slipfighter bay.

Now… now it appeared she was on a primitive world that looked like it had barely mastered the most basic forms of nuclear power. Internal combustion engines, primitive light fixtures and none of the more advanced forms of construction that were developed after the first colony ships left Earth. In fact, the more she looked at her environment, the more she believed that she'd somehow been transported to the planet Earth thousands of years in the past. However she didn't let herself overlook the other possibilities like the fact that it could be a fabrication or deception of some kind. Perhaps a hallucinatory drug being spread through the ship's environmental systems or perhaps an artificial digital construct that she'd been placed in through the use of sophisticated technology? Until she learned more, she would evaluate each piece of information she obtained and would use it to determine the truth.

"Andromeda? Andromeda respond!" came a young man's voice from behind her.

Turning around, she saw a sight that in her mind made her wonder just how elaborate a deception this truly was or what part of her superior mind came up with a hallucination of a High Guard officer and a purple female alien of unknown race.

"Any luck?" asked the purple female, looking rather timid in how she held herself.

"Nothing. There's nothing wrong with the communications device but either they're not within range or something is blocking the signal," replied the officer as he lowered his bracer to his side. "We need to find a better place to establish contact. They might have a better idea of what's going on."

"A sound plan, High Guard," she said, approaching the duo with a hand near the gauss pistol at her side. "I'll come with you in the interests of mutual survival."

In truth, though, she was going to follow them since they were likely the first pieces put into play by the untrustworthy wretches who dared call themselves Nietzscheans. If she kept an eye on them and studied them, she would learn what the true purpose of this charade and hopefully a way to escape it. Even if it turned out that these two were mere decoys meant to distract her or inspire false hope of escape, she'd get a better idea of their overall scheme by learning the roles the pawns had to play in it all.

"Who are you?" asked the Purple little girl.

"Elizabeth Summers, out of Joyce by Hanko, Slayer Pride." She replied proudly as she laid out her genealogy, "And you?"

"Commander Alexander Hunt of the Andromeda Ascendant and this is Dawn Gemini," replied the High Guard Commander as he tried to covertly take a strategically superior position.

She had to respect the young man for that, even though he looked a little young to be a commander since he looked to be in his mid-twenties. Given the longevity of some of the branches of humanity, it was entirely possible he was older than he looked. As for the female, her name gave no clues as to her planet of origin or species, so it would be wise to pay extra attention to her until the missing info of her profile got filled in some more. Still, she appeared to be in her mid-to-late teens in terms of age and might be what most humanoids would consider above average in the area of physical appearance.

"Well, as I said, you're plan is a sound one. Our best chance for getting a signal out even inside of a jamming field is to reach an elevated position," she said as she looked about the immediate area before settling on a large bluff on the edge of the primitive settlement. "That bluff seems to be the highest we can hope to get without obtaining some sort of transportation. I suggest we make our way there as quickly as possible before whoever brought us here decides to show us their intentions."

_Assuming, of course, that you two aren't a part of the intentions meant for me._ She thought as she waited for the duo to take the lead before taking up the rear.

While she was concerned about the two in front of her being the enemy, she also kept herself aware of the environment and the things in it. If this was some sort of virtual reality set up with her mind here while her body was hooked up to the artificial environment gear then the world around her could change in the blink of an eye. If this was a real town constructed to deceive and distract her then nothing she saw would be what it appeared to be. A lesser being would let their fear of the unknowns in this situation get the better of them but she was Homo Sapien Invictus and it would take more than this to shake her composure.

Deciding to take stock of the information her senses were bringing her way, she first went with the sense of sound; there were none of the standard hums of hover vehicles or any of the ordered movements indicating a trained force in the immediate area. If this was a VR environment then that meant nothing and she would have to make sure she could react the instant that hostiles materialized in the fake world. If this was the real world and the environment had been fabricated then the chaos sounds she was hearing was meant to confuse her and distract her. To counter this she would have to filter out the anarchy that appeared to have gripped the town and hear only the things that would alert her to a threat to her survival.

As far as sight went, everything she could see indicated that she was in a small pre-space faring town where some phenomena had caused disorder and randomness to become the theme of the night. Aliens of all size and shape were running around with no apparent purpose other than the satisfying of the whims of the moment. Humans were also a part of the senselessness of the night but none of them were wearing clothes she recognized, nor were any of them like her. Most of the humans, though, seemed to be running for their lives from the various aliens that were chasing them with only a few possessing the will to make a stand against those that would kill them. Fortunately all it took to scare the creatures away from her group was a few well-placed near-misses with her gauss pistol. She was glad that the High Guard commander was smart enough to realize her intentions because it would have been disappointing to be travelling with someone who couldn't see past the obvious. Then again she doubted that the man could have earned the rank he had by being that dense but that was assuming he hadn't stolen the uniform and equipment in order to pretend to be High Guard. She'd heard of a few instances on space stations and drifts where crooks had impersonated high-ranking officers in order to steal goods only available to such people.

Only the smart ones, though, even made it past the first level of security consisting of a retinal and DNA scan, which was connected to a database containing the genetic IDs of every member of the High Guard regardless of where they were posted.

No one made it any further according to official record.

Unofficially she'd learned that there'd been three successful thefts in her lifetime but most of those required inside assistance in the form of a treacherous officer looking to fill his or her own pockets.

As far as smell was concerned, it was nothing but foul scents consistent with most planetary environments along with a few others that she couldn't identify. There were some faint traces of blood and burnt flesh in the air, along with scents consistent with what the air would be like after an energy weapon had discharged. Nothing nearby as far as she could tell but, judging from the number of different scents, as well as the strength of the smells, she could tell that numerous confrontations were taking place. This was both good and bad for her. On the one hand, presuming that this was not a VR generated environment, it would allow a group as small as hers to slip by unnoticed on their way to their destination. The other possibility, though, was that there would be no safe path to the bluff and that they would inevitably encounter someone or something they'd have to fight. This was also the more likely scenario if this entire situation was a set up by enemies of her Pride since they wouldn't want anyone from Slayer Pride to have an easy time. True, lulling her into a false sense of security would supposedly be best achieved with a period of boring nothingness but for her people it would only ensure she stay on alert all the more.

_Then again, if someone is on alert too much, it is possible to miss small clues that could prove crucial if utilized at the right moment,_ she thought as she fired off a shot at the feet of a tall hairy humanoid thing that had been charging their position.

However she would beat the odds no matter what this situation threw at her.

Her heritage demanded no less of her.

_**Five Streets Over, Same Time, Admiral Rupert Giles' P.O.V**_

_While I don't remember leaving the classroom with a force lance holstered at my side, I am thankful that it is here. _Giles thought as he used the fully extended weapon to parry a strike from the humanoid in front of him before delivering a knockout blow to his opponent.

Keeping his guard up as he looked about the immediate area, he eventually determined that for the time being he was safe and so pressed the button that collapsed the weapon. He didn't know where he was but, judging by the materials used in the construction of the surrounding dwellings, it was a safe bet that he was quite a ways away from the Commonwealth. While there were a few worlds that existed within their territory that possessed life but had never been contacted due to the non-interference laws that existed to protect them, he didn't think this was one of them. It was his first inclination to attempt to raise any High Guard parties that might be within range of his communicator but he put an end to that idea considering he didn't know how he came to be in this place. His last memories were of drilling a group of slackers at the academy on their slipfighter piloting skills as well as the more advanced strategies and tactics that could be employed. He'd been at the point where he had been about to give up hope on accomplishing anything significant with them when he'd suddenly found himself here on this primitive world.

He'd only had time to do a cursory scan with the sensors in his bracer before being attacked but from what he'd seen there was a pervasive energy field blanketing the entire area. Sensor readings fluctuated at random and he had a feeling that he shouldn't rely on what he was being told past fifty meters. Considering the chaos that appeared to be happening all around him though fifty meters would be just enough warning room for him to properly prepare for any unpleasant encounters. His force lance had a full charge and was fully loaded so he wouldn't have to worry about close quarters combat for a while so long as he didn't get too trigger happy.

Zatatatatatatatata!

_Someone's using a semi-automatic gauss pistol nearby._ He thought as he began to move towards the sound.

Turning the corner to an area between two dwellings, he found what he sought in the form of long-haired redheaded woman dressed in black leather whom wielded two pistols instead of one as he'd originally surmised. She was dealing with a trio of beings that at first appeared to be humans but, when he got a better look at them, he found that they had enlarged foreheads, glowing yellow eyes and fangs in their mouths. He was surprised even more was, when the young woman succeeded in landing a pair of shots to the heart of one of the beings, it transformed into ash to be blown away by the wind. Were they artificial constructs of some kind or did they have a self-destruct mechanism that was designed to obliterate any trace of them upon death? He didn't know the answer but it was clear they intended to kill the woman and, since they didn't appear to be of any race he knew of, he would not intervene to save the two who remained. It took the skilled gun woman only another few minutes to dispatch the remainder of her foes. Quite impressive considering the three beings appeared to be a little stronger than your average Nietzschean, as well as a little faster than them. When the last of the opponents had turned to dust, he began to approach her but kept his steps both loud and slow so as not to startle her accidently.

"Well, that was pathetic. You'd think they'd never seen a gauss weapon before," said the redhead with contempt for her fallen foes.

Then without missing a beat she whipped around swiftly and had both pistols aimed at him and, out of instinctive reaction, he pulled his force lance out aiming it at her.

"But I'm betting by the look of that antique you're holding that you have," Red said with a playful yet dangerous smirk. "You one of Dylan Hunt's people?"

"I know of a Captain Dylan Hunt, if that's what you mean," he replied knowing the name of a former pupil of his who'd recently been promoted to Captain.

"Yep! That's the guy. My cousin's a member of his crew and is forever sending me messages about all the trouble they get into," stated the woman with obvious annoyance at her relation's messages. "Wilhelmina Valentine. Part time data broker, part time liberator, but all time professional."

He might not be fluent in all the slang of the drifts and such but, unless he was very much mistaken, he was speaking with a thief as well as a data hacker. Not that he was personally opposed to the profession since such people often became useful when official channels dried up but, as a high ranking member of the High Guard, he had to present the right image when certain eyes were on him. However, based on his surroundings, he very much doubted that such eyes were watching his every move and it'd be to his advantage to have an ally amidst the confusion that surrounded them.

"Well, Miss Valentine, it would seem we are caught in quite the unusual situation where the two of us are not where we recall being twenty minutes ago," he said, doing his best to be informal yet in keeping with his rank. "Until we find some way of returning to where we belong, it'd be to our mutual advantage to stick together. Good enough for you?"

"Well, as much fun as it might be wander around this den of flash heads and chip brains by myself, I suppose I can make it my one good deed a year watching your back 'til we leave this mud ball," Miss Valentine said as she holstered her gauss pistols. "After all, those Wayists say the Divine withholds judgment on those who do at least one act of kindness a year so I plan to keep it guessing for at least another decade or so."

Somehow he didn't think any religious group worthy of respect would say such things.

"So where to, Admiral?" Valentine asked with a bit of restlessness in her movements.

"Well, transmissions are being blocked somehow or we're too far away from any help for us to reach them with our communicators. Also there are no reliable forms of transportation to take us anywhere," he replied, running through the options in his mind. "Therefore our best bet is to attempt something locally to remove the interference that might be keeping us from reaching anyone. If that doesn't work, then we can try leaving the area somehow."

"Sounds like a workable plan," Wilhelmina said as the two of them began to walk along the primitive roadway. "Any idea where the jammer is?"

"Not precisely but if I look for the wave distortion that's interfering with the range of the sensors in my bracer, I should be able to get within fifty yards of the source," he replied as he brought his bracer back up and began to calibrate it for the task ahead. "From there it will be a simple matter of inspecting each of the possible hiding places for such a device."

"Then let's get going because I was in the middle of a job when I got yanked here and if I have to return the down payment my client gave me then my whole month is going to be ruined." Miss Valentine said, sounding quite against returning her initial payment.

With nothing more needing to be said, he began to lead them towards where he believed the source of the interference could be found. Whether or not he chose to pry into his temporary ally's affairs after this would depend on his judging of her character. If she turned out to be something like the scum that he'd taken great satisfaction in bringing down back in his younger years, he would do the right thing and send her straight to a prison ship. If she turned out to be more like the sort of outlaw who broke the rules for the right reasons, though, he'd do what he could under the table to sweep away what problems she might have. Nothing big, of course, but if a few files got lost here and there then it could easily be dismissed as a system bug to be grumbled about, fixed and then forgotten.

Such was the way of the universe.

_**Thirteen Minutes Later, Halfway to Kingman's Bluff, Commander Hunt aka Xander's P.O.V**_

_I wonder how long it'll be before Elizabeth decides to stab us in the back?_ Alexander thought as the three of them continued to their destination.

He knew his adoptive father would not like the fact that he was assuming the worst of the Nietzschean woman from the beginning but it was hard for him to see them any other way. How else could you see a race after one of their most powerful Prides grew him in a test tube with the help of the Collectors and then, when he was ready, spent every waking hour conditioning him to be like the one they wanted him to replace. Even now, five years after he'd been found and rescued by the crew of the Andromeda Ascendant, he couldn't shake his unfriendly attitude towards the Ubers or those glorified librarians. Still, with the help of his adoptive father and his friends, he'd made some progress in getting away from what had been his first reaction to seeing one of either group. That first reaction, of course, being to kill them as quickly and as viciously as possible with whatever tool happened to be within reach. Now whenever he was around one of them, he slipped into what he called his 'High Guard mode' in which he obeyed the protocols and laws of the High Guard to the letter. This meant no fraternizing with them outside of work and bowing out of any function that didn't require the presence of the second in command of the Andromeda. It wasn't perfect and his father was still trying to get him to make friends with some of the Nietzscheans his own age but all he had to do was point out Tyr and Gaheris to make the older man back down.

While he might not be in the Commonwealth anymore, he still would not let down his guard around the female behind him. His senses were as sharp as they could be without technological assistance and his right hand was close enough to his force lance that he could draw it in an instant should it be needed. He'd do what he could to shield Dawn, though, from any gauss shots since she wasn't exactly as skilled as her 'sister' Trance when it came to fighting. Simple pointing and shooting were fine for her but actually evading enemy fire and shooting at the same time were a little beyond her at the moment. He didn't know what sort of training she'd received before coming aboard the Andromeda but he was fairly certain it wasn't anything beyond a civilian's level of skill, nothing that could match a graduate of the High Guard Academy.

He was about to dig for information on his tentative Uber ally when the sound of a female scream cut through the air, clearly indicating a damsel in distress.

Reacting on pure instinct, he ran for the source of the scream and found what looked like a human woman in some sort of cat costume being pursued by a tall furry humanoid creature easily eight feet in height that didn't match any alien species he'd ever encountered. With that in mind he pulled his force lance out of its holster and immediately extended it to full length before placing himself between the furry creature and its prey. He didn't have much to worry about since the first few swipes directed his way indicated a barely-sentient level of intelligence or someone who knew next to nothing about how to fight. With a few well-placed strikes to the torso followed by a solid blow to the back of the thing's neck, the fur-covered alien dropped to the ground, unconscious but relatively unharmed save for a few bruises it'd have upon waking up. Turning around to look at the young woman he'd saved, he found her looking at him at shock with her jaw hanging in surprise. Not the usual reaction he got the few times he came to a damsel in distress' rescue but certainly not the worst response ever.

"Are you alright, miss?" he asked after several moments of no movement from her.

"Since when did you turn into Robin Hood, Harris? And why are you older looking?" she asked, sounding a little too like the spoiled daughter of the Tarazed Ambassador he'd been forced to act as a bodyguard for once.

He was not looking to have to deal with another one.

"I'm afraid you have me mistaken for someone else, Miss. My last name's Hunt, not Harris." He said as politely as he could, using the etiquette lessons he'd gotten from Rommie.

"Have you gone mental or something?" the woman asked, sounding like she didn't believe a word he'd just said, "What am I saying! Of course you have! Just like the rest of this town and Jo-Jo the dog boy you just put down! Ooohhh! I'm never going to get my deposit back from Party Town with all these tears in my costume!"

_Definitely someone who likes the sound of her own voice a little __**too**__ much._ He thought as he began to inch away from the brat so he could hook back up with Dawn and the Uber.

"Where do you think you're going?" Ms. Brat asked him with hands on her hips and full superior glare aimed at him, "The entire town's gone completely schitzo, more so than usual, and you think you can just leave me by myself? I don't **think** so!"

_I have a feeling she doesn't think much, __**period**__._ He thought as he heard the sounds of two sets of feet approaching his present location, _At least not when it comes to someone other than herself._

"You and your little freak team always seem to be able to fix things so I'm sticking with you until things go back to normal." Ms. Brat said, sounding like she'd just made her statement a law of the universe.

"This one sounds like one of those scheming Jaguar Pride princesses," came the condescending tone of the Uber he'd allowed into his group. "Still, she sounds like she has a better idea of what's going on than we do. Perhaps she could tell us what she knows."

"Buffy? Since when did you start copping a Ms. Bad-Ass attitude?" Ms. Brat asked, sounding puzzled but still certain she had the right view of things.

"The name is Elizabeth and, if by some chance I had been named… Buffy… I would kill my parents for giving me the name and then kill myself to rid such nonsense from the gene pool," replied the Uber woman, looking thoroughly disgusted at having such a un-Nietzschean name. "Now, do you know anything about why this primitive town has gone mad or am I just wasting my time talking to you?"

"Like I'm supposed to know all the crazy freaksome stuff that happens! That's your department, Summers!" Ms. Brat replied, sounding like she would start a catfight if she was pushed one more step forward. "All I know is one minute everything's normal and I'm deciding to dump the jock I'd been with and then everyone, like, totally goes psycho, acting like the things they dressed up as. I was lucky to get out of the Bronze in one piece!"

"But you didn't change? Right?" Dawn asked pointing out that Ms. Brat hadn't been changed into a cat person of some kind.

"Of course not! You losers probably got your outfits at that new dirt cheap place while I got my outfit from the best shop in town." Ms. Brat replied arrogantly before taking a second look at Dawn, "Since when did you become Barely Legal material?"

While he might not understand the context of the reference, he had a fairly good idea of what the brunette was referring to but it didn't make sense to him since it was perfectly normal for Dawn to look roughly eighteen or nineteen physically. While it was true that he didn't know a whole lot about Dawn's race or how they grew physically, he didn't think they aged physically all that different from most humanoid races.

"So… it would be fair to say that only those people who got their costume from this… cheaper store were affected tonight?" asked Ms. Uber rhetorically, sounding like she barely thought this story was worth considering. "Take us there."

"Why should I?" Ms. Brat asked, sounding like she was two seconds away from giving the Uber a tongue lashing of a lifetime.

Without a single pause Elizabeth pulled out her gauss pistol, aimed it at a nearby vehicle and fired three shots into it, leaving nothing but smoking holes in the metal.

"Good enough a reason for you?" Elizabeth asked, returning the weapon to its holster.

"Right. This way." Ms. Brat replied, showing that she had more smarts than he'd thought by taking only a second to pick up on the implied threat.

While truthfully he wouldn't have let the Nietzschean woman kill or seriously hurt the teenager, that didn't mean he wouldn't permit a couple of bluffs tied to examples in the form of inanimate objects. If it got him back to where he belonged, he'd be willing to allow quite a bit.

However the killing of innocents, even spoiled ones, wasn't even an option.

He was a lot like his father in that respect.

_**The Sol Star System, Not Far From Jupiter, 628,743,036 km from Earth, Same Time**_

It was a region of space that had only loosely been explored by the native inhabitants of the system. Probes sent from Earth had conducted flybys and other such scans of the planet while telescopes on the only populated world watched the planetary body from a distance. However, despite the advancements that had been made between the launching of each probe and the gazes from increasingly sophisticated telescopes, none would see what would happen next.

With an effect like the birth of a new star, a concentration of light sparkled for a moment, stretching out with beams of light. Then, mere seconds later, a blue whirlpool-like vortex sprang forth, hinting at being a doorway to another plane of existence. This hypothesis was proven to be correct when a small, seemingly organic based ship emerged from within the vortex. If it could be described as anything, it would be described as being like an alien tree that was travelling through space roots first. This was proven even more accurate when sections near the rear of the craft moved away from the central trunk to form a sort of canopy like one might see on a tropical palm tree. However the most interesting part of this was not the ship but rather the being inside who was piloting the ship.

Standing in front of a holographic display on the bridge was a being that was distinctly not native to this star system. Composed of an elongated helmet with a single eye in the front, a harness around where the shoulders would be, a cape or robe making up most of it and ending with a plate of multicolored glass on the front, it was an odd sight to be sure. However, as it looked at the images displayed in the air before it, one could sense an almost timeless wisdom about the being. The main image in the center was of a ship that was easily over a thousand meters in length from one end to the other. It had an almost artistic design to it but the being had long since learned to look beneath the surface for the truth. What it discovered was technology easily four millennia ahead of what the natives of this system should have been capable of producing without outside help.

_Intriguing._ Thought the being as he caused the main image to slide into the background as another one moved to the front.

The second image was of a section of space close to Mars that seemed to be fluttering like a blanket that was being blown about by a strong wind. There were no tears in space and, visually, the only way one could determine its shape was by following the distortion effect until it disappeared. To the owner of the organic ship, though, his sensors clearly indicated it to be the beginnings of a temporal anomaly. Whether it was natural or artificial was unknown at this time since there was evidence to support either possibility but it was growing in strength. In fact, if it proceeded to develop like it was, there was a real possibility that a hole in space and time would be created in a little over two weeks.

_Interesting._ Thought the entity as he piloted his ship into prime position to observe both locations and capture the information with its sensors.

He did not know if the two anomalies were connected but they definitely bore further investigation.

Especially given what his people had planned for the inhabitants of this star system.


	2. Aftermaths and Adaptation

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material contained herein. They are the rightful property of their respective creators and associated companies. I make no money off of this whatsoever and do not intend to in the future. I write because it's fun and because there are those that enjoy my work. Therefore I would be greatly appreciated if you refrained from filing a lawsuit against me because I can guarantee you that whatever money you got from me would in no way cover even a tenth of your legal costs.

_**Earth, Sunnydale, Downtown, Business District, Seven Minutes Later, **_

_**Wilhelmina Valentine's P.O.V**_

_Well, I've been with this High Guard fossil for twenty minutes so far and, aside from some nice moves with a force lance, I still don't see what my older cousin sees in them._ Mina Valentine thought as she continued to follow the Admiral down the street.

Then again she and her cousin had never really seen eye to eye on much except when it came to how important family was and how a leader was responsible for the people she was in charge of. Not that she personally was on a team all that much, since she preferred to work solo on an assignment, but the few times she had to bring someone else along, she did her best to watch out for them. All too often they were these computer nerds or experts in a sort of tech that she hadn't had time to read up on before the job. It didn't happen often as she made it a point to read up on the tech she might encounter on a job but that tended to be about security systems, weapons of all kinds and the culture of the world she'd be on. Why the last one? Often a good escape plan was only as good as the environment it happened in. If one didn't know a thing about the planet they'd be on, they would stick out like a sore thumb and be caught immediately. However if they knew what the locals were like and the area the crime would be taking place in, they could literally disappear within seconds by blending into the background. Given the sheer number of worlds and cultures that existed, though, it was impossible for any one person to learn about all of them, but if one had enough advanced notice of a job they could read up enough to make it work.

Still, she was the **best,** so it was only one out of every twenty or thirty jobs that forced her to hire on extra help, so Beka was definitely more experienced in the area of being a leader.

She was more of a lone wolf type and, for the most part, it worked out for her. Sure, there had been a couple of times she could have really used some help during her getaways but she was still alive, so it was all good. Still she hoped that the fossil she was following would find the source of the jamming so she could get off this rock and back to the job she'd been on before waking up here. It'd been to a shady nightsider name Keesh who'd wanted her to liberate some information from the mainframe of a rival of his and needed it done 'discreetly'. She'd been using a lesser known secret passageway that had been a part of the original construction of the mansion the rival had chosen to make his own private estate to get inside and, if the info she'd been given was true, it'd get her right where she wanted to go. However she'd been in the process of using a modified molecular whip to slice her way into the room where the rival's personal computer was when there'd been a flash and she'd opened her eyes to find herself here. She didn't know if she'd been discovered, knocked out and then shoved into some creepy VR world or if it'd been some sort of temporal thingie, but she did know that she wanted to get back to her job or else she'd be out eighty thousand thrones. Considering the cost of preparing for the job had been forty-five thousand thrones, she wasn't about to lose all that money without a fight.

It was then that she noticed that the Admiral had stopped and now seemed to be spinning in circles, so she assumed that they were really close to whatever was blocking transmissions from being sent out. Looking about herself, she tried to figure out which building had just the right look to it to be hiding a jamming station without being obvious about it. She was on a pretty primitive world but it was similar enough to the more technologically advanced ones that she could still pick things out. Most of the stores in this area looked pretty lived in and seemed to follow the pattern that would allow one to compliment the others. It was, after all, a little known fact that business districts often were organized by the services they offered in order to maximize business so the themes of the stores closest to one another often complimented each other nicely. It was with this in mind that she spotted the store that stood out most of all and that was a place with a sign above the door that said 'Ethan's.' It was written in the old Earth language English that had all but been abandoned since becoming a part of the old Commonwealth but she'd gotten a job from an eccentric antique collector to go to Earth looking for something. That something was apparently a bunker filled with stuff from Earth's twenty-first century, so she'd done her best to read up on the time period as well as master both the spoken language along with the written words she was likely to encounter. A daunting task but, thanks to her data port, it hadn't taken her more than a week to learn what she needed to know and then it'd been on to the tough job of sneaking onto a Drago-Kasov slave world to get the desired items.

That hadn't been fun.

Still, this store stood out as being newer than the others and seemed to be some sort of costume shop and that didn't go well with the herb shop to the left of it or the trinket store to the right of it. All the other stores were at least similar to those two but the costume shop was definitely out of place and, in her mind, made it a recent addition.

"It's in that one right?" she asked pointing to the costume shop 'Ethan's'.

The High Guard Admiral took a moment to aim his bracer at the shop but, after a few minutes, she knew that she'd made the right choice as she saw a look of agreement cross his face.

"Yes indeed it would seem that the interference is coming from that store. Shall we see who's inside?"

"Lets!" she said with an energetic smile as she pulled one of her gauss pistols out.

With caution the two of them advanced on the front door of the shop, one always covering the other as they proceeded. When they were close enough they flattened themselves against the walls on either side of door before giving each other a single look. It was enough for her to know that she would come in low while the Admiral would stay high once they were inside of the building. With the plan of attack established, the High Guard man leapt to a position in front of the door before firing four precise shots from his force lance that would destroy the hinges of the door along with any locks that might be present. Without anything to keep it upright, the door fell to the ground and the instant it provided her with enough room to enter she did, dropping to her knee and ensured that the interior was clear of threats. She was a little disappointed to see no guards, battle droids or internal automated defense emplacements inside but took it in stride since it'd mean less work for her. Glancing over her shoulder, she could see that the Admiral had likewise found no threats from the side of the shop he was assigned to survey but the old man still didn't lower his guard.

Smart.

Just because you couldn't see a threat that didn't necessarily mean it wasn't there and, if you weren't careful, you'd get a smoking hole in the head.

"I hope you realize, Ripper, that you'll be paying for that door before you leave." Came a man's voice with an accent similar to the Admiral's but distinctly more playful.

Looking towards the voice, they saw a man a little younger than the Admiral but not by much. A full head of black hair and wearing clothes that looked like they belonged in that old Earth bunker she'd infiltrated, he approached them from a curtained off back room. Not exactly what she'd been expecting, seeing as how the guy wasn't Nietzschean or one of the low life mercs she was used to dealing with.

Still, she'd keep her guard up just in case.

"I'm afraid you have me mistaken for someone else, sir," stated the Admiral as he took what was probably meant to be an intimidating step forward. "Now I believe you have some equipment in back that's interfering with any transmissions being made in the area. Show us where it is and we'll be on our way."

There was a moment of brief confusion on the dark haired man's face before the look of a successful prankster appeared on his visage. She didn't know what to make of that but she doubted that it meant they'd be taken to the jammer anytime soon.

"Truly that is a reasonable offer but, you see, I'm under certain obligations from my superior and he won't take kindly to the fun ending just yet." The dark haired man smiled, "I'd need some form of compensation for breaking my deal with him. Perhaps the services of this leather-clad lady for the night?"

_Ugh! He is definitely not my type!_ She thought as she almost rolled her eyes at the man's statement, _Still… _

"Well I hope you know that I'm not like other girls." She said playfully as she sexily began to move towards the man.

"Yes, well, I despise normal myself, my dear." The man said looking surprised for a moment before getting 'the look' in his eyes.

'The Look' of course is the one where males look at females like they're nothing more than a good fuck or piece of meat. It was precisely the sort of look she'd been hoping to get from him and so she continued to play the role of the naughty seductress for the purposes of her plan.

"Good, because my 'services' are illegal in four out of the five systems you likely know of, so I'll be counting on you to keep what happens to yourself." She stated, playing with the man's imagination to get him even more distracted than he was at the moment.

"Consider my lips sealed, my dear." the dark haired man mused as he began to reach for her, no doubt to feel her up.

Too bad for him the only physical contact he'd be getting would be of the painful variety.

With movements she learned from having to deal with one too many men who thought they were the Divine's gift to women, she grabbed his right arm, twisted it and then placed it behind his back before shoving the business end of her pistol under his chin.

"Sorry, flyboy, but you're really not my type. Now take us to the jammer or we'll see if some smart bullet therapy will help your memory."

"You wouldn't…! You don't know where it is and it could take you days to find it!" the man exclaimed as he tried to free himself from her grip.

"Maybe. Though the thing you should be focusing on is whether or not you want to be alive during those days or creating a stink on the floor here." She said while increasing the pressure on the man's arm. "Make your choice, 'cause I'm fine with it either way."

While she knew that the High Guard Admiral would likely throw up a fuss at threatening to kill a prisoner, she hoped he mistook her intentions as a bluff. While she didn't like to kill while on a job, she didn't lose any sleep over the times she did wind up with a body count after a mission. In her mind it was the sign of an amateur or a fool to leave a trail of bodies behind you during a mission. A true professional could get in, get what they wanted and then get out again with minimal muss or fuss to either person or thing. Still, if this idiot didn't co-operate then she just might choose to follow through on her threat if only to exact some measure of retribution against someone who was likely a part of the group that took her away from her job.

"It's in the back… agh… right behind the curtain. The bust…" the man managed to get out through the pain she was inflicting on him.

"Thanks!" she said before kicking his feet out from under him and slamming his head into the floor.

"Was that really necessary?" the Admiral asked as he stepped past the now-unconscious man so he could advance on the back room.

"Well, I didn't feel like restraining him any longer and we got the info we wanted so… yeah!" she said, walking away from her bit of violence without any remorse.

Getting in front of the High Guard, she swept aside the curtain to enter the back room and found the stone bust the dark haired man must have been talking about. It had glowing green eyes but, no matter what direction she looked at it from, she couldn't see any sort of transceiver arrays or technology of any kind. It was possible that it was all contained in the bust but somehow she didn't think so. Generally speaking, the range of the jamming device was dictated by its power output so something as small as the stone bust would not have the needed power to cover the entire town. Then again, unless most of it was underground, the building didn't seem big enough either but it wasn't like they had any other likely candidates to search.

"I'm not seeing any signs of technology advanced enough to be responsible for interfering with our communicators," the Admiral said as he continued to look through the boxes and cabinets. "Are you having better luck?"

"Nope! The only thing that looks like it might be connected is this glowy eyed stone bust but it's too small to be what's behind this mess." She replied with some unhappiness as she wondered if she should go back to the main area of the store and work over Mr. Dark some more.

In the end though she decided that if she didn't vent her feelings of anger with some violence she was going to snap. Without a word to the High Guard Admiral, she pointed her gauss pistol and aimed it at the stone bust that had been the source of Mr. Dark's lie.

"WAIT!" cried the Admiral as he reached out to stop her.

It was too late, though, as her trigger finger had already done its job and, with the sound of a smart bullet being propelled electro-magnetically at supersonic speeds, a round was sent straight through the bust, leaving a sizeable bit of damage at the impact point. This, of course, wasn't the end of it as green cracks began to spread from the spot where the bullet hit, criss-crossing the surface at an ever-increasing pace, until it reached critical point.

The point at which the energy being contained within the bust was stronger than the stone used to entrap and channel it.

Under such conditions there was only one think that could happen.

**BOOM!**

_**Outside of the Costume Shop Seconds After the Bust of Janus Exploded, Buffy's P.O.V**_

_Your crypts aren't going to save you tonight, demons! _Buffy growled mentally as she picked herself up off the ground from where the shockwave that came from the store had thrown her.

Indeed, with the amount of anger she was feeling she was going to spend the rest of the night venting it on the demon community, even if she had to kick down every door and explore every cave to find them. Whereas usually she didn't go overboard looking for the demons on patrol, she'd be willing to go all the way tonight if it meant she could wail on them as much as she wanted. True, Giles would probably go on a total efficiency lecture afterwards but it'd be worth enduring if she could just get to hit something now.

Hearing two different moans coming to her right, she suddenly remembered that Xander and Dawn had been hit by the same shockwave as she had and they weren't Slayers. Turning, she could see Xan sitting up holding his head but aside from a few scratches, only half of which were dripping blood, he seemed alright. It was when she turned to her butt pain of a little sister that she got a shock capable of putting her anger on the shelf of her mind for the time being. During the time 'Elizabeth' (boy, talk about a stone cold bitch!) had been in control, she'd still been able to see and hear what was going on, so she'd been aware of Dawn's new form for quite a while now. However she always assumed it'd been a side effect of the spell that'd turned them into their costumes. With the spell now obviously broken, she'd assumed that her little sister had reverted back to her normal eleven year old self.

That was not the case.

Nope. Definitely not eleven years old if the way she filled out the purple spandex outfit was any hint. Dawn Marie Summers looked more like a college student physically and, when the subject of her sibling's body came up, her eyes spotted something else that had her wigging out. Instead of a rubbery tail that bounced or a limp tail that just hung off the costume, there was now a tail that moved about in a way that only a living thing could.

Not good!

It got even weird when she moved her right arm and felt something pointy scrape up against her arm. Looking down, she saw that she still had those bone spike parts of her costume on and in an instant got a rather bad possibility shoved to the forefront of her mind. Reaching over with her other hand, she tentatively, reluctantly because of what it could mean, touched one of the bone spikes. For a moment she was encouraged when she didn't feel anything serious but when she wiggled the bone formation, her emotions did a one eighty degree turn, dropping like a rock. Instead of feeling a costume piece rubbing up against her smooth forearm, she perceived sensations that implied that the bones were actually a part of her. In a panic she grabbed the fabric of the leather forearm brace and ripped it off in one go, revealing the truth that was to her truly horrible. Growing out of her skin in a manner not too different from how horns grew out of a demon's skin were three bone spikes that lay parallel against her skin. Almost on instinct she tensed a muscle in her forearm and watched in horror as the bones jutted out in a way that the Slayer part of her mind knew would make them crude but effective weapons.

The rest of her mind, though, was too busy gaping at the latest thing to keep her from having her desired normal life. She knew that the others probably thought she griped about not having a normal life too often but they didn't understand, could never understand, what it was like to have your world so permanently changed. Sure, it had been a shock for them learning about the demons and the supernatural but, unlike her, they chose to get involved and could choose to leave at any time.

She would never have those choices.

Despite how much she might want to throw away the Calling, she knew that was not something she could do either by choice or by asking another for assistance. From the moment the previous Slayer had died and passed the mantle onto her, the future that awaited her was pretty much set in stone. That meant that even if she tried to avoid her duties as the Slayer they would somehow always find her. Either the demons would track her down looking to add the killing of a Slayer to their reputation or the Watcher's Council would probably force her back to her Calling. Nevertheless, she'd always done her best to keep her life as close to normal as she could without endangering innocent lives in the process.

Now, though, she faced an obstacle that wouldn't be as easy as super strength or prophetic visions. She'd have to wear long sleeved outfits every single time she wanted to go outside and they'd have to be just the right type to make sure no one caught a peek at the bone spikes. Considering this was California and the weather was almost always too hot for long sleeved outfits, she'd stick out like a sore thumb.

_Maybe it's not so bad!_ She thought as she started pacing a bit, _Maybe Giles can work some kind of magic on me so people don't see the bone spikes._

"Buffy? Are you alright?" Xander asked as a strong hand clamped down on her shoulder.

In fact it was a little too strong for it to be Xander's.

Turning towards the owner of the hand, she received her third shock of the night when she found not her seventeen year old friend but rather a guy in his mid-to-late twenties. Oh, he still looked like Xander, but it was more like looking at what her only guy friend would someday look at in ten years' time. He was definitely more mature looking and seemed less gangly than she remembered him being earlier in the day. He looked more like a professional basketball player or football jock with broad shoulders and… was he taller now too? She'd found out since she'd first met him that he had about eight inches on her in height but now it seemed more like twelve inches. She was getting a crink in her neck just looking up at his face.

_Wait a minute! If Dawn and Xander got body upgrade, then what about me?_ She thought as she quickly walked over to a nearby store window to make use of its reflective surface.

Using the past times that she'd walked by the place as a reference, she found to her annoyance that she had only gained an inch of height, maybe two at most, making her glare at her reflecting in annoyance. It only got worse when her suddenly tail-endowed, formerly younger sibling walked up next to her revealing that her little sister wasn't so little anymore when it came to her. In fact the now pointy-eared teenager had a good four inches on her, making it look like SHE was the younger sibling instead of the other way around.

She was SO going to slay whoever was behind this!

And if bastard was human, she was going to make him WISH she could slay him!

It was then that though that they heard the sounds of three people walking somewhat unsteadily towards the door absent entrance of the costume shop. Turning, she was glad to see Giles and Willow walking out with a tied up and somewhat groggy looking shop owner held tightly between them.

_Ask and ye shall receive… or something like that._ She thought with a feral smile as she advanced on the trio exiting the store.

"This the guy who cast the spell?" she asked, not even aware she was giving off the lazy yet deadly aura as she walked.

Just like Elizabeth of Slayer Pride had done for most of the night.

"Yes. He's a… former acquaintance of mine. Ethan Rayne." Giles replied, sounding a little off in the way he spoke to her. "Apparently he thought it'd be amusing to have people turn into their costumes for the night."

"So this was all a big prank?" she asked, noticing the edge to her voice but not really caring as her misfortune now had the label of prank added to it.

"Easy, Buffy. Calm down," Willow said with a bit more assertiveness than usual. "If he did this, he can undo it. So no breaking of bones… at least not until after he's fixed everything."

"That's hardly going to motivate me to co-operate, dear lady." Ethan said, sounding like he'd been hit in the head a short while ago.

"Look at it this way, Mr. Rayne," Xander said as he walked over to the prisoner and looked him right in the eye. "You help us undo the spell and maybe during all the commotion of us being back to our old selves, you slip away out the back door. You **don't** help us and we take out both our anger and frustrations out on you right now. Not a difficult choice, I think."

"Nice try lad, but I know you White Hats. You won't dirty your hands like that." Ethan stated with contempt, although there was a trace of worry in his voice.

"Maybe that was true before, Ethan, but you've changed that with your reckless spellcasting." Giles said with a dark tone she'd never expected to ever hear out of him. "With the exception of perhaps Dawn, the rest of us now have memories and skills that belong to people that have lived the majority of their lives in hostile environments where honor will often get you killed. I dare say thanks to what most of us have 'inherited' from our costumes will make it difficult but not impossible to live with beating you to within an inch of your life."

These words chilled all of them to the bone but, for some odd reason, she found herself not quite as objectionable to beating the crap out of a human as she used to. She'd definitely make sure they stopped short of doing something that the docs at the hospital wouldn't be able to fix but, aside from that, anything else was fine by her.

"Well, if you put it that way…" Ethan said before collapsing to one knee due to the knock on his head he'd received from Willow or Giles, "…then you can **all BUGGER OFF!**"

With those words Ethan reached into his shirt, gripped something and muttered what sounded like three or four words. However, before Giles or Willow could re-establish their grip, there was a flash of light that left nothing but empty air where the shop owner used to be. At first she couldn't do anything but look at the spot where the cause of her current circumstances had been seconds ago but then anger welled up within her at the loss of her chance to exact retribution. With a growl she barely heard, she turned around and aimed herself in the direction of the cemetery she knew had a few possible vamp nest locations. If she couldn't pound the shit out of that Rayne guy she'd thrash something else.

"Buffy? Where are you going?" Giles asked, sounding somewhat concerned.

"To find out if a bone spike can dust a vamp as easily as a wooden stake can." She bit out a little harsher than she'd intended.

"Don't you think we should see if Mom's alright before you go tearing through cemeteries with a mad on?" Dawn asked pointedly in a way that she just knew was accompanied by an eyeroll.

It was then that she remembered that her mother had worn an outfit from Ethan's as well.

Without another word she took off running for the art gallery, worrying all the way that her mother might have been permanently changed just like she had. Oh, a loud voice in her head was screaming at her that it was only because she'd been caught in the shockwave of the spell ending that she hadn't switched back but a more insidious voice thought otherwise. If her mom really had been permanently changed by the spell, there'd have to spill everything to keep the matron of the Summers family from going to the police or the hospital with her new forearms. That, of course, she hated since it'd mean her little reservation of normality, the one place where she could leave her Calling at the door, would be no more. Her mother would complicate things one way or another and she'd probably get grounded until she was thirty for keeping her Slayer-self a secret.

_That Ethan Rayne better hope he never sees me again or I'll rip his LUNGS out!_ She yelled in her mind as she continued to run down the mostly vacant streets of Sunnydale.

_**The Summers Home One Hour Later, Joyce's P.O.V**_

"So let me see if I understand this correctly." Joyce said as she stood glaring at the collective group of friends her daughter had gathered, "Magic is real, demons are real and tonight some 'mage' cast a spell that turned us into our costumes. A spell that for us at least appears to be permanent. Is that about right?"

Nods from Buffy and Mr. Giles were the only responses she got and that was probably only because she was able to glare it out of them. She knew she should be laughing at the entire idea of magic and demons or be angry with them for handing her such a pathetic excuse. However the changes both she and her daughters had been through in the last couple of hours of course pretty much proved the existence of both. It had been an unreal experience to be trapped within her own body while another person controlled it and, even once she was back to normal, she could still feel pieces of the matriarch inside her head. Still, she could have brushed off those thoughts as nothing more than drug induced delusions had it not been hot it'd felt when the bones sticking out of her right forearm had brushed up against a nearby telephone pole. It hadn't felt like an arm brace with things sticking out of it but rather things sticking out of her own living arm. It had taken at least twenty minutes of touching the spikes, jiggling them and even trying to pull them out of her forearm before she finally accepted that they were indeed a part of her arm and she wasn't imagining things.

When Buffy had come running up to her, she had for a moment tried to hide the changes but when she spotted one of her little girl's forearms bare except for the three spikes coming out of the skin, she realized things were more serious than she'd thought. Buffy had reacted similarly when the teenager had spotted her own changes but she noticed immediately that the surprise wasn't as great as she'd been expecting. It had almost been as if she knew more of what was going on than she did. It hadn't made sense and, as soon as her daughter had gotten close enough, she'd immediately told her to follow her home. It had been her plan to take both of them to the hospital to have the doctors examine both of them to find out how it happened as well as if it could be reversed. However her daughter had immediately gone against that idea but had sounded unsure of how to explain why it was a bad idea. However, with every false start and stuttered sentence, it became more and more clear that her daughter knew something important and hadn't told her anything. She'd demanded to be told what Buffy knew but her little girl had convinced her to wait until they were home before the interrogation. Reluctantly she'd agreed and, once they'd arrived, she was surprised to see the librarian's car in the driveway and the lights on inside the house.

Upon entering she'd found a group of people she almost didn't recognize.

Mr. Giles she recognized for the most part but the British man seemed to have an air of strength about him now that she'd never seen before. Willow looked mostly the same but not nearly as uncomfortable in her clingy leather costume as she had when they'd left for the school. She was acting like she always wore something that accentuated her figure. That was something else she'd noted after mentally commenting on the clothes. The genius Rosenberg girl's form seemed less like it hadn't hit puberty yet and more like that Chase girl that her eldest often complained about. Not completely like Cordelia, of course, but definitely different from how she'd been shaped a few hours ago. Xander, however, could be said to have had the most dramatic change yet also the least dramatic as he no longer looked to be the seventeen year old teenager she knew but rather a young man in his mid-twenties. That left only another teenager, who looked the most alien and most changed of the entire group with pointy ears and a tail that unmistakably moved with life not rubbery bounce. With purple skin that only the best makeup artists could even come close to matching that she almost didn't know who it was until she looked closely at the teenager's face.

It was her little Dawn.

She'd almost collapsed from the shock but had been caught by Buffy and that had bought her enough time to wrap her arms around the echoes of strength that the nameless Matriarch of Slayer Pride had left in her mind. It hadn't kept her from walking over to the person who had once not even come up to her shoulders and confirming for certain that it was indeed Dawn. Once she was convinced, both by a visual examination and her youngest trying to make her stop out of embarrassment as only Dawn could, she had turned to Buffy and demanded that she explain in full what was going on.

Her eldest had only stumbled further over her own words while casting glances randomly at Mr. Giles that made her believe that if she wanted to get the majority of her answers, it'd be from him. Again she had posed her question and, while the older man had taken a moment to clean his glasses, he did answer. He told her a story that sounded too spectacular to be believed, a story of ancient times, of demons as ancient as they were powerful, and of remnants that lingered to this very day. She was told that magic was real, as were demons, and that tonight a skilled user of magic had cast a spell to transform any who bought an item from his shop into whomever they dressed up as. Mr. Giles went on to say that he was uncertain why the spell didn't completely reverse itself for them like it had for the rest of the citizens of Sunnydale. He suspected that the shop owner had done something special to their costumes, made them different from the others, so that there would be lingering side effects. He had tried to go on but she had stopped him with a sharp gesture and a look that, without a doubt, had been left by her costume's personae. Indeed it was the lingering resonance of that person that kept her from breaking down under the weight of the information she had just been given.

Now she had to decide what to do with it and what to say to the rest of the people in the room.

"You're sure there's no way to undo it? Turn us back to the way we were?" she asked, not sure if she believed that she was actually accepting the existence of magic like this.

"The mage, Ethan Rayne, used chaos magic fueled by the power of Janus to change us. It would be… exceedingly difficult to reverse the effects. Perhaps with some research and investigation but it could take months, if not years, depending on the complexity of the spell." Mr. Giles replied uncomfortably, as though he knew she would not like his answer. "It would go quicker if we could locate Mr. Rayne but I fear he has already put considerable distance between himself and Sunnydale."

"It sounds like you know this Ethan Rayne." She stated, catching the hidden undertones in the man's voice when he spoke of the shop owner.

"I… knew him when I was Xander's age. It is not a time I am proud of," Giles stated, showing with how he moved how he wished things had gone differently in his youth.

There was little more to be said on that point so instead she decided to move onwards to what they would do while Mr. Giles did his research to return them all to their true selves. Obviously she would have to remove Dawn from school since she doubted that they'd be able to hide the changes her youngest had gone through.

_If we're talking about physical age, she's actually older than Buffy right now. _She thought on a whim before focusing back on the task at hand.

"Well, in any case, I'll have to call Dawn's school tomorrow and come up with some feasible reason why she won't be coming to classes in the near future," she said as her mind began working on that excuse with only a single night to make it sound realistic. "Buffy can call in sick for a few days while we try to find a shirt that will cover… those things without making her stand out too much. I'll probably have to close the gallery for a while. I can say I'm taking inventory and if that excuse becomes questionable, I can add that I'm preparing for a new exhibit. That should buy me a couple of months at least."

"What about you, Xander?" Willow asked suddenly as another issue was placed on the table.

Xander was another who was changed by the spell but not in the same way as the rest of them. Where they had gained additional body parts or 'accessories', he had simply been aged into his mid-twenties. Still, it was something that would make it impossible for him to return home or even go to school because, while bone spikes coming out of the forearms could be hidden, ten years was a **little** harder. While before she had been blind before regarding what Xander's home life was like, the Matriarch parts of her could see the signs of abuse. The baggy clothes, the abundance of time spent away from home and the avoidance of anything involving his parents or his home. There was enough of both her and the Matriarch's personality that wanted to go over to Harris home and make Anthony and Jessica pay ten times over for what they'd done. However she knew that Xander would probably object if for no other reason than because of the trouble she might get herself in.

That didn't mean she couldn't help in other ways.

"He can stay here until we get everything sorted out, or I'm sure Mr. Giles has a spare room he can offer." She stated before looking at the librarian, "Right?"

"Of course. Whatever you would prefer, Xander." Mr. Giles stated without hesitation and with conviction that made it clear he cared about the boy.

"Yeah, we have plenty of room Xander." Dawn said quickly, hopping to the grown man's side. "We could even clean up the basement and turn it into a bedroom if you want."

She almost had to smile at her youngest's actions; Dawn obviously choosing to take advantage of her newfound physical maturity, as there were considerably few obstacles standing in the way of her crush now.

Except one important obstacle, of course: Her.

While she might not be objectionable about the idea of one of her girls eventually marrying Xander, both Buffy and Dawn had some growing up to do before she'd let it happen. For Buffy she wanted her eldest to learn some responsibility and perhaps a bit more sensitivity towards others. For Dawn, she knew that while her daughter might now be in her late teens physically, her youngest daughter's mind was still that of an eleven year old. All her Dawn knew about boyfriends and love were what she'd seen on TV or in movies. While those made for some pretty lovely scenes it wasn't anything like the reality of love or an accurate portrayal of all the directions a relationship could take. While she didn't believe Xander would intentionally hurt her not-so-little girl's feelings, she knew that the young man could be a tad oblivious when it came to the feelings of others. His complete cluelessness when it came to Willow's feelings was proof enough of that.

"Um… Dawn, your tail…" Xander said with a little awkwardness.

Looking at the mentioned appendage, she almost giggled at the sight before her and could hear that the others weren't nearly so restrained.

Wrapped around Xander's right leg, apparently done unintentionally if Dawn's blushing was anything to go by, was a purple tail that unwound itself from the former teenager's appendage.

_Whoever he chooses, I have no doubt I would approve of the pairing._ She thought not even realizing that the echo of the Matriarch was in agreement with her.

_**Unknown Location, Unknown P.O.V, Two Days Later**_

"Progress report." The male voice ordered as he entered the room that was his destination.

"Propulsion and navigational systems are fully repaired. Sensors and other tertiary systems will be operating within normal parameters in five days," replied a female voice that seemed to come from three places. "Tactical systems and slipstream drive, however, will take a full week at the very least to get back in working order."

It was about what he'd expected from her but it still bothered him that it was taking this long to get the ship back up to satisfactory levels. There was so much they didn't know about where they were and what had brought them here. All that they'd been able to determine so far was that they were in the Terra solar system and that evidence suggested that it was somewhere in the late 1990s by the old Earth calendar. It made no sense since the last thing he remembered was dying aboard the Andromeda at Hephaistos, confident in the knowledge that he'd done his duty. Then, sometime between closing his eyes for what he believed to be the last time and opening them, he suddenly found himself both alive and unharmed. For the others it had been pretty much the same, with only the date and location they were taken from being different. They numbered four, with one of them being put into the brig the moment they realized who he was and the things he'd done. He'd said that they should just execute the traitor and be done with it but he'd been overruled by those who wanted to wait until they fully understood their current circumstances. He'd been tempted to overrule them since he was the ranking officer on board but he realized that the only thing that was keeping him out of a cell right across from the traitor was a need for manpower.

They simply trusted him more than they trusted the other one who was locked away.

"Good. Have you learned anything more about the phenomena that brought us here?" he asked, moving onto the next topic of the day.

"A bit. When ship's sensors first reached a level where we could rely on what they told us, I was able detect residual energy traces surrounding the ship and leading down to the planet's surface," the female voice replied in an official manner as she operated the console in front of her. "Now, though, I've been able narrow it down to the area that was once called California around this time period. Once sensors are fully operational, I should be able to pinpoint the source of the energy to within a half-mile radius."

Not as precise as he'd want but if they were fortunate and the origin point was near a town it wouldn't be hard to fish for information there. Still, even in this time period, there were quite a few towns and cities on that side of the continent so it'd be better to have it narrowed down a bit more before he went down to investigate. He wasn't positive if the technology to return them home could be found down there but it was a place to start.

"I've also learned something else that I think you should see," the female voice said as an illustration of energy wave patterns came up on the screen. "After determining the energy's point of origin as best I could I began to analyze it to see if we'd come across anything like it before. There were two distinct energy wave patterns that made up what brought us here. One was an unknown type that doesn't match anything in the database but the other was an eighty-nine percent match for one file in the mainframe. This one."

With that the information on the screen changed and he could see what had his comrade so concerned. They now had a very big piece of the puzzle surrounding their arrival at Earth so far in the past. They now knew the 'who' of things but not the 'why'.

"Put priority on getting the sensors fully operational. I want to find the origin point of this energy as soon as possible." He ordered before softening as his fellow officer glared at him for thinking he had the authority to tell her to do anything, "Please."

"Very well, Commander." She stated before ignoring his presence from that moment onward.

While he didn't let it show on the surface, it… bothered him that someone he'd worked with for so long was no longer close enough to him for it to be considered a friendship anymore. Not that he could blame her for her position, considering what he'd done. Intellectually he was sure she understood his position but, with her emotions playing an equal, if not greater, role in her thought processes, he knew the 'hurt' had a bigger impact on how she behaved then the facts. Still he was determined to repair as much of the damage as possible by the time they returned to their rightful place and time. Perhaps then she and his best friend would be willing to serve with him again.

One could only hope.

_**Earth, United States of America, California, Sunnydale, Three Days Later, Willow's P.O.V**_

_Well this is waste of my fuckin' time!_ Willow thought angrily as she disconnected herself from her computer with a bit more force than was probably safe.

Pulling the other end of the wire out of her dataport, she fumed for a minute as she was forced to realize that the thing she'd thought would make her queen of the world was completely useless for the time being. It had been five days since they'd been changed by the chaos spell and while the others had been having a hard time, she'd found herself oddly pleased with the changes. The first positive thing she'd discovered upon returning home and getting out of her costume was the fact that her body had undergone a significant upgrade.

Before Halloween she'd never had what you'd call a sexy body or, rather, she'd never thought of it that way. The fact that when Cordy wasn't making fun of what she was wearing, the bitch was making fun of her 'lack of physical development' didn't improve her opinion of herself any, either. It was true that Xander helped keep her spirits up and, when she became friends with Buffy, her opinion of herself started going up, but she'd still been so afraid to leave the routine she'd been in since starting high school. It had been the fears that had plagued her about her appearance that had almost made her put on her trusty ghost costume instead of the one from the bundle Xander had gotten from the costume shop. In fact, if Buffy hadn't thrown it out the window, she probably would have worn it. Using a finger to peek down the front of her shirt, she was quite happy that she hadn't and would properly thank Buffy for helping her somehow later.

Mostly because her initial idea, hacking into the school board's mainframe and getting Snyder fired, hadn't worked out.

After she'd finished basking in the glow of her now supermodel shaped body, she spent the odd hour over the days that followed pondering the other new addition to her body. The dataport embedded in her neck. She'd already gone online and looked up everything she could find about the show Andromeda, with special focus on the dataport that was employed by one Seamus Zelazny Harper. While like most science fiction shows information on the device didn't go into too much detail, there was enough for her to get a basic idea of what the dataport was as well as what it could do. A dataport was a biomechanical implant that is allowed a person to access large amounts of data and manipulate it mentally. There were limitations and requirements when it came to using it, but she believed she fit those quite nicely especially with what she'd inherited from her Halloween personae. While not the same level of genius that Harper was, her character was no slouch in the hacking department either since computer systems were a part of just about everything in the show. Add that to her growing natural skill at hacking, something that'd grown since Giles had first asked her to research the tunnels beneath Sunnydale, and she'd giggled for five minutes straight at the possibilities.

Unfortunately a problem popped up that officially made her new technological accessory useless to her. The fact of the matter was that the data port was designed to work with systems at least two to three millennia ahead of where Earth was at the moment. Where most people would have given up, she'd worked with the combined knowledge of her own mind and the Valentine smarts to figure out a way to **make** it work. She'd tried everything from custom making an attachment that would allow her to jack into the internet to reprogramming her computer to support the implant but, as of one minute ago, it'd all been for nothing.

Fuming for a minute, she eventually decided that moping around wouldn't do her any good so, with a swiveling of her hips, she got out of the chair she'd been sitting in and began heading for the stairs. She was due to meet up with Buffy and the others at the library in half an hour to decide on the patrol plans for the night. That was another thing that had undergone significant improvement lately thanks to Xander going as Alexander Hunt Halloween night. Thanks to the fact that Alexander Hunt was supposed to be a clone of Dylan Hunt, Xander was now part heavy worlder, making him five times stronger, faster, more enduring and possessed similarly enhanced reflexes as well. This added to the combat knowledge that Xander said had been stuffed into his brain by Alexander's "creators" and the former geek could keep up with Buffy in a sparring match without much difficulty.

It was too bad that all of the weapons and equipment for their respective costumes had gone back to being simple props when the spell broke. While her best friend had proven competent with a quarter staff, she had a feeling that he would have been unbeatable with a working force lance in his hands. The part of her that still housed bits of Wilhelmina Valentine was also wishing that her custom made twin gauss pistols were still in working order. Even if it'd take some precision shooting, they'd be useful for taking out vamps and demons especially since it wouldn't take much work to maintain them even with current tech being what it was.

_Guess I'll have to make due with whatever Giles can get his hands on._ She thought as she stepped outside and locked the door behind herself.

Heading for the library, she wondered if there'd be anything interesting to fight on patrol tonight. While she might not be as bloodthirsty or battle hungry like the Nietzscheans, the memories she'd gained from her character made her hunger for a challenge. There was nothing like a challenge to get the old blood pumping and send adrenaline coursing through your veins. That's the one thing that she and the Valentine family had in common now: they were always up for a good time.

True, a good time usually meant doing reckless things in the name of the Big Score but, despite the death defying situations, Wilhelmina often said it'd been a blast once it was all over with.

Of course that might have something to do with the nice fat paycheck she usually got at the end.

Another side-effect of her inheritance from the thief named Valentine was that she finally thought she had enough courage to make her feelings known to Xander. Where before she'd been such a shaking leaf at the idea of letting him she now felt, her resolve was strong enough to make an aggressive move towards the dream she'd had almost since the first day she'd met him.

The dream of becoming Mrs. Xander Harris.

_**The Summers Home, Same Time, Xander's P.O.V**_

_It's weird how your world can get turned on its side when you least expect it._ Xander thought as he waited for Buffy to finish getting dressed.

It was something that had passed through his head on more than one occasion since Halloween night and he doubted it'd stop running through his brain anytime soon. He'd gone from a typical seventeen year old guy, son of a pair of drunken slobs, and been turned into someone physically superior to the jocks that used to bully him at school. Indeed, thanks to his memories from Alexander Hunt personae, he knew just how much faster, stronger and tougher he was than them. Of course the few times he'd gotten the idea to go and deliver some righteous payback on those bullies, one of the Summers ladies always stopped him somehow. With Joyce it was by giving the motherly glare that pretty much bent him to her will no matter how hard he tried to remain firm in his resolve. With Buffy it'd be pointing out how much of a bully he'd be if he went and beat the crap out of people who wouldn't stand a chance against him. In Dawn's case… well, it was definitely a situation of him regretting ever teaching her the puppy dog eyes way of getting what you want because combining that look with a face so like Trance Gemini's pretty much shatter his resolve in a second.

Still, his body upgrade wasn't a complete loss since it allowed him to do pretty well against newly risen vampires and some of the lesser demons that lived in Sunnydale. He could even last a good while against Buffy during their sparring matches, even though he was fairly certain she was holding back a fair amount of her strength fighting him.

A week ago that might have bothered him but now that he had some actual strength of his own and could hold his own in a fight, he just made beating her a goal to aim for.

As for the fact that, officially, this life as Alexander LaVelle Harris was over, he didn't mind nearly as much as he thought he would. It wasn't like he would be sacrificing anything particularly important to him by doing so. His parents could rot in hell for all he cared and, aside from the people who'd been changed by the spell, he didn't know anyone else that he'd miss. All those that had been affected by the spell already knew the truth and were as trapped by the ramifications as he was and while some of them were looking forward to being cured he was not. Should Giles find a cure, a counter spell, he would not be there to receive it. He would remain altered and use his new abilities to contribute more to the Scoobies than he could have as a mere untrained human. That being the case he was going to ask Willow at their meeting today if she could hack into the appropriate databases and insert a new identity for him.

Alexander Hunt, son of Kevin and Sarah Hunt. A new name and a new identity to call his own and make whatever he would of it.

He knew that the others would try to convince him not to be hasty and that he shouldn't give up the identity he was born with so quickly but he would not be swayed by their words. The identity of Alexander LaVelle Harris didn't have anything that his life as Alexander Hunt didn't already have less than a week after it'd been made. He would not pass up this chance at a fresh start.

Hearing the sounds of footsteps, he looked up and saw that Buffy had finally found a combination of clothes that wouldn't completely make her stand out. It had been the biggest and most difficult task of the eldest Summers girl's morning to find something fashionable yet concealing enough to go to out of the house in. True, if the ranting was accurate, it had actually made her status at Sunnydale High School worse than it'd been pre-Halloween but thankfully the traits the Slayer had inherited from Elizabeth made such a change of little consequence to her. In fact he could have sworn that he'd heard her mutter a very Nietzschean thing about Cordy yesterday after coming home from school. Still, he knew that the second that Giles reported he'd found a way to turn them back, Buffy would be first in line to be hit with the counter spell. It had been a 'thing' for her to find a way to be normal again and, while there was no cure for being the Slayer, the blonde wouldn't hesitate to be rid of the latest thing to separate her from her image of normality.

"You ready to go, Buff?" he asked as his friend reached the bottom of the steps.

"As ready as I'll ever be sweating buckets in this outfit." she replied, obviously commenting on how clothes that concealed her forearms weren't suitable for Californian weather.

"Then let's get going. Giles probably has something new for us tonight instead of the same old patrol." he stated with a bit of optimism born of his ability to actually fight side-by-side with Buffy, "Staking fledglings is **so** boring."

"Yeah, well, don't expect too much." She said as they walked out the front door, "If there was something big coming, Giles'd have called me into the library during school but there was nothing but the meaningless drivel of classes all day."

"Careful, Buffy. You had a little of Elizabeth in your voice just now." he said, wagging a finger at her for a few seconds.

"Superior minds think alike, I guess." she said in a tone indicating he'd best never mention her costume personae again. "Doesn't mean I'm not right. Half the stuff they teach us we'll never use and in my case, the best I'll be able to do with me being the Slayer is a minimum wage job. There's no way I'd be able to balance a career with the demon of the week showing up."

She had a point there. Demons and the occasional apocalypse rarely took into consideration a Slayer's home life before popping up and making themselves known. He could only imagine how much havoc that'd play with keeping a job if Buffy had to duck out of work or if a demon decided to attack her while she was on the clock. While natives of Sunnydale might be willing to overlook demons, they were oddly incapable of overlooking the side-effects of supernatural happenings. Still, he hoped that she would never stop trying to get the most out of life she could because, in his opinion, it was the loss of hope that did in most Slayers.

He might not have read all of the Watcher Diaries but the ones he had looked at did indicate some pretty depressing lives where Slayers were concerned. Whether they were Watcher trained from the time they could walk or found while in their early teens, they all sounded like they lost hope in the weeks leading up to their deaths. Hope was crucial to any sort of struggle because without it, warriors found little point in fighting and often just caved in. That was why he figured Buffy had lasted so long. She had friends and a slice of normalness to hold onto and keep her going when the night seemed its' darkest. The previous Slayers often only had their Watcher and perhaps one other person to keep them company. Depending on how close those people allowed themselves to get to the Slayer, it could have been as comforting as good friends or as cold as a master giving orders to a slave.

Thanks to the memories he'd inherited from his costume personae, he knew what the relationship between master and slave was like all too well.

He'd send himself to hell before he'd let Buffy be treated like that.

_**Sunnydale High School, Twenty Minutes Later, School Library, Buffy's P.O.V**_

_I wonder how long it'll be before they notice._ Buffy thought as she listened half-heartedly to Giles' plans for tonight's patrol.

Thanks to the 'upgrades' she got from Halloween, her memory was at a level that she didn't need to focus on what was being said completely in order to remember it later. Even if that wasn't the case, she'd probably still be able to guess the basic orders for tonight: patrol, keep your eyes open and report to him when you get back. It was always the same unless she found something odd on patrol or Giles got notified of some sort of trouble brewing that hadn't reared its head just yet. Seeing as how that hadn't happened in the last couple of days, she had a feeling that the most they'd run into tonight was some newly risen vamps and maybe clear out a nest or three.

She hoped it was just that. She didn't know if she could handle something more than that.

The others didn't know it but her Slayer powers had been weakening over the last couple of days. Feats of strength or speed that she'd been able to do with ease were now taking increasing amounts of effort in order to accomplish. She hadn't told the others because she figured it was something to do with the spell that changed them all but now she wondered if it was something more serious. She was wondering if it meant that something was wrong with the Slayer essence inside of her. If that was indeed the case, then it was likely that the longer she remained Neitzch…Nietz…whatever it was she'd been turned into by that bastard Ethan the more her powers would fade.

Maybe… maybe it wouldn't be so bad if she let that happen.

If this form wound up killing off the Slayerness inside of her and **then** ask Giles to cast the spell to undo the spell changes, then she could finally have what she'd wanted since she'd been Called: to be normal again. Her heart warmed up to that idea quickly but it was dampened by that annoying little voice in the back of her head that told her she was being selfish and that she'd be abandoning all those she could save as the Slayer. However, the way she figured it, when the last of her Slayerness was killed off, the next in line to become the Slayer could take up the burden. The voice insisted that she was just dumping her problems on someone else's lap. She wondered if the voice was her conscience or if it was an echo of the Elizabeth personality.

From what she could remember of her Halloween character, it was one of her people's ways of thinking that they took total responsibility for their actions. You could probably debate whether or not it'd be her fault if the people she might save in the future died but, because she'd be making a conscious choice in the matter, some of the responsibility would rest on her shoulders. Maybe she could try to get a job afterwards that could still be of help to someone in a different way. Not law enforcement. Not firefighting. Nothing that had a single thing to do with her former Slayer self of that she was certain. Maybe something in medicine or psychology? For the former she wouldn't mind the blood or anything and for the latter she wouldn't require any sort of fighting skills at all.

"Buffy? Are you listening to me?" came Giles' voice, breaking her out of her thoughts and back into the here and now.

Looking up, she could see that the rest of the gang was looking at her funny and she realized that it must look like she'd been daydreaming the entire time. Looking into her own head, though, she managed to recall enough of the half heard conversation that she could bluff her way out of this situation.

"You wanted us to check out Westfield cemetery because you think a group of Fyarl have nested there. Right?" she asked rhetorically, knowing she'd scored a win based on the look they had on their faces.

"Right. Fyarl aren't as dangerous as some demons, being of less than average human intelligence, but they have violent tendencies that could lead to an innocent being harmed." Giles explained while cleaning his glasses, "While not the most evil of demons, they are a threat to the local citizenry. You'll need silver to kill them and, fortunately, I have some silver plated daggers which should do the trick."

"How strong are they?" Xander asked, sounding less like a teenager and more like a soldier.

Not necessarily a bad thing and he hadn't completely lost his usual goofy ways, but it was still odd to see him so serious and competent. It wasn't that she thought him useless or incapable of being competent but she'd thought it'd take him at least a few more years of slayage before he'd start acting like this. Still, considering it a bit, she found that it was actually a good thing for him since it made him a better fighter, along with everything he'd inherited from his costume. Maybe she wouldn't be the only one to delay using the counter spell to return being a normal human being. Maybe if they delayed things enough, Xander would be able to memorize enough of the facts and skills he knew now so that, when the spell was undone, he'd still remember the majority of it. Then all it'd take would be adjusting that knowledge so that someone with normal strength and speed could make use of it.

At present he was good enough both in terms of moves and matching her physically to the point where she actually got a decent workout when they sparred. She had no doubt that her friend thought that she was holding back but the truth of the matter was that he'd pushed her pretty close to her current limits the last couple of times they rumbled. She didn't let it show, she had some experience in hiding how tired she really was during a fight, but it was the truth nonetheless.

Looking over at Willow, she could see changes from who the redhead had been before Halloween and definitely thought they were improvements. She acted with more confidence now and looked to be strong enough now to actually make a move on Xander and that was definitely a good thing. Her first female friend in Sunnydale had always made it clear how much she liked her best friend and the only thing getting in the way of romance was Willow's timid nature and Xander's obliviousness to the redhead's feelings. Now that the mouse routine was pretty much gone, all that was left was to make Xander clue into how Willow really felt.

_That's going to take major work._ She thought as she took the dagger offered by Giles and tucked it under her belt. _The guy's so stuck in 'big brother, little sister' land that it'll probably take the mother of all shocks to knock him out of it._

She was wondering if even a Nova Bomb between the ears would be enough to knock loose his preconceptions about what Willow was to him.

_Probably not, but we still gotta try right? _She thought as the team of her, Xander and Willow left to deal with the Fyarl demons.

_**Summers Home, Dawn's P.O.V**_

_I am __**SO**__ bored!_ Dawn thought as she lay with her feet up in the air on her bed.

Then again, ever since she'd gotten her makeover, she'd spent more time bored than having fun thanks to the fact that none of the gang had been able to come up with a decent disguise that would let her go outside be it night or day. Not that she could argue with them on that since they were mostly right. No set of pants could hide her tail good enough and, if they had her wearing a dress, it was almost impossible for her to keep her newly acquired appendage still enough that it wouldn't be noticeable to those who'd see her. That left trench coats but that would stick out even more, given California's tendency towards warm to hot temperatures. Bottom line, with no way to conceal her less than human looks, she'd pretty much been confined to her house with only a few minor trips late at night when everyone had been reasonably sure there'd be no one who could get a clear look at her. Up until today she'd been willing to do what she was told in the interests of not making things more complicated than they already were for her family and friends.

Now, though…

Now she'd had enough and, with a growl of frustration, she sat up and immediately went for her bedroom window, intent on sneaking out and hooking up with the others on patrol. She knew that even if they were angry with her being there, they wouldn't send her home without an escort of some kind and, given that that would leave whoever was left one person down, maybe they'd let her stay.

Carefully opening the window so as not to make any noise that her mother might pick up on, she waited until the opening was just big enough for her to slip through before beginning to squeeze her way through. Thankfully, unlike her sister's window, she had the good fortune of having the roof of the front porch to step onto and that made things much easier. Once she was completely outside, she paused for a moment and listened for any sign that she'd been discovered but she only heard the same sounds she'd been hearing for the past hour in her room. Smiling, she moved to the side of the house opposite where she'd last seen her mother before she'd gone to her room and, with unusual grace, leapt to the grassy long below without a problem.

"Score one for the purple diva with the pointy tipped tail!" she whispered to herself as she patted herself on the back for a successful escape from imprisonment.

"Minus ten points for patting yourself on the back before making your getaway," came a voice that made her cringe at what it portended for the future. "Five for thinking that I hadn't figured out that you'd try something tonight and another five for not bothering to take a weapon with you, even while knowing how dangerous this town is."

Turning around slowly, she found that her pointy ears weren't deceiving her at all and it was indeed her mother and, judging by the crossed arms, the matron of the Summers family wasn't amused by her attempt at sneaking out. Though whether that was because she'd failed or because her mother's authority as 'Matriarch' had been challenged by the escape attempt she didn't know. It was something she'd been noticing off and on for a while now since the spell was broken Halloween night but she could now say for certain that everyone was unconsciously acting more like their characters. Xander was getting more leaderish and Buffy was seeing her Calling as more of a challenge to herself than a burden. Giles seemed less nervous or awkward about certain things while Willow was really coming out of her shell. As for her mother… her mom was employing the new age psychology less and adopting a more matriarchal way of raising her kids. While it was nice in the sense that she no longer had to wonder where the woman was getting her ideas, it did make getting away with things harder.

"Just where do you think you're going little lady?" her Mom asked, not moving one little bit.

"To find Buffy and the others," she said, hoping that honesty would set her free. "I'm tired of being cooped up in the house all the time! I figured since its dark enough that I could make it to the graveyard they're at without being spotted so long as I'm careful."

Her mother just raised an eyebrow before turning and walking over to the front porch of their house. She wondered what the elder of the Summers family was up to and got her answer swiftly in the form of something tossed at her. On reflex alone she caught the object thrown at her and when she got a good look at it: it was a bayonet with a wooden handle where the gun barrel usually went. She also saw that the pommel of the handle was sharpened into a wooden spike and that would make it ideal for slaying vampires.

"I had a feeling that you'd try and sneak out sooner or later so I stopped by the army surplus store and bought it." Joyce replied matter of factly, without a single thought to the sharp object she'd thrown at her youngest daughter, "Had to make the handle myself but, thanks to the Matriarch's memories, it was as simple as making a sandwich."

She supposed for a people that valued survival above all else being able to make weapons out of just about anything would be a necessity. Taking the bayonet into her right hand, she did a few practice slashes before pretending that she was fighting it out with a vamp. While not as impressive as what Buffy and the others were probably using, the impressive speed and agility she now had would make her pretty deadly. On a whim, she willed her tail to come up in front of her and curled it around the handle of the bayonet. She's seen how in Xander's X-Men comic books the hero Nightcrawler wielding a sword with a tail similar to her own with surprising skill. She wondered if she could do something similar with her tail.

Once she was sure that she had a firm enough grip on the bayonet with her tail, she tried to will the appendage to thrust the blade forward and it sort of worked, albeit not as swiftly as she would've liked. The horizontal and vertical slashes, however, were definitely sloppy by anyone's definition. Putting the weapon back into her right hand, she tucked in beneath her belt deciding that she'd only use her tail to wield the weapon if her hands were otherwise occupied.

"Now you'd better get going if you want to make it to the others before they move onto the Crestfield cemetery," her mother said as she moved to go back into the house. "Be careful and listen to what your sister says. She's the one with the experience doing these sort of things."

"Sure! See ya!" she said with a smile before taking off for the cemetery her older sister would be at with the others.

While she did do her best to stay out of sight, she was honest enough with herself to say that she might have been slightly distracted by the fact that she was **finally** out of her house.

_**Turner Cemetery, Thirteen Minutes Later, Buffy's P.O.V **_

"Is that the best you can do?" Buffy asked with contempt as she swatted aside another sloppy attempt by the vampire to hit her, "I don't know **what** I was thinking hoping that you would actually be worth my time."

Deciding to put an end to it, she lunged under the vampire's next attack to deliver a hard palm thrust to the demon's ribs and smiled when she felt two of them break. Pushing just that little bit harder, she slammed the vamp to the ground and then plunged her stake into its foul heart. With all the dustiness of staking, the undead her opponent vanished as it turned to ash with an unholy scream of defiance, the demon spirit being pulled back to hell. Getting up, she casually but professionally looked over to see how the others were doing with their sparring partners.

Xander seemed to be doing well for the most part and was eight moves away from plunging the pointy tip of his wooden staff into his bloodsucker's heart. He was showing himself to be pretty good with his staff, with most of his moves coming straight from his Halloween personae's training as a High Guard officer. How he chose to use them, however, was all Xander and it showed with some overly showy moves that made her think he was pretending he was actually in the TV series. It was, after all, a basic rule of the entertainment industry that in movies, TV shows and video games the combat moves the characters used were often flashy. Those flashy, moves while nice to watch, wouldn't work in the real world and would probably get the person using them killed. Still, he hadn't been knocked down once since Halloween so she guessed that he'd gotten good enough that he could afford to show off a little.

Willow wasn't faring quite as well as Xander, since her character had been more used to using gauss guns than force lances but the mini-crossbow Giles had given her was a good substitute. The redhead still had to keep the demons and vamps at a distance but proved to be easy enough to accomplish if teenage genius took to the high ground of a mausoleum rooftop. The only thing that would be an issue was the ammunition, since, even with two quivers of mini crossbow bolts strapped to her thighs, she'd eventually run out. She would have to make sure that their patrol ended before then or at least convince Willow to head back to the library for more ammo.

All in all it was a weight off her shoulders to not have to worry about her friends getting hurt on patrol anymore. Between their inherited abilities and memories, they made for quite a team, with neither demon nor vampire proving to be much of a challenge. She paused for a moment before growling in annoyance at what she'd just allowed to pass through her mind. In the time since she'd been Called, she'd come to learn that there were certain phrases that one didn't think about or speak aloud and she'd just thought one. Looking about the area, she tried to see if there was anything or anyone approaching them but there was nothing her eyes, ears or (yuck!) nose could detect that would be enough to give her cause for concern.

At least until she began to look away because then she spotted a female form running in her general direction with something decidedly ugly in pursuit. It wasn't until both forms got closer that she picked out a tail swinging back and forth behind the female form and in that instant knew who it was.

_Looks like I lose the betting pool. _She thought as she moved to intercept the thing chasing her sister.

It had been something Xander had started two days after Halloween. When the last of their efforts to find something that could let Dawn mingle with people in broad daylight fell through, he'd bet twenty dollars that the youngest Summers wouldn't last a week before trying to sneak out. They'd laughed about it but the four of them had all placed bets with hers being at the ten day mark since she'd figured it'd take that long for her mom to let her guard down enough for Dawn to bolt. Now she was out twenty dollars and her Nietzschean side hated it because to those people any sort of loss was a sign of weakness and inferiority.

Both were things to be despised and obliterated.

It was with some anger that she ran past her sister and speared the demon chasing her sister, tackling it to the ground just barely due to the difference in weight. This was made clear when the demon successfully managed to throw her off but she was back on her feet by the time the monster was, so she considered the two of them to be evenly matched in the speed department. It was the brute strength area that there seemed to be something of a difference but that didn't bother her. At the moment, all she cared about was venting her displeasure at losing the bet upon the demon without giving the others reason to believe there was something more to her actions. Taking full advantage of her slightly faster speed, she dipped and dodged every attack while delivering damaging blows to what she hoped were vital areas. She didn't recognize this particular breed of demon right away but, if the roars of pain and anger were anything to go by, she was definitely doing some damage. Eventually, once her Uber side was satisfied, she performed a leg sweep before slamming her stake right into the things eye with enough force that it definitely pierced the brain.

Getting up, she dusted herself off and check for demon blood but, thankfully, it looked like she was okay in that department. One less thing to worry about but her knuckles looked a little raw from all the blows she deliver to the demon's torso. Tough or armored skin, most likely. Turning around, she found that Dawn was bent over slightly, obviously catching her breath from running so fast and the others were unconsciously taking up defensive positions around her.

Too bad Willow and Xander didn't know that the thing they'd have to protect Dawn from was her wrath, otherwise the Pseudo-High Guard Officer would probably pick up the youngest Summers girl and run.

"What are **you** doing here?" she asked in an even tone as she gave her sibling her best Nietzschean stare.

"Well… I got a little bored… and decided to go for a walk." Dawn replied as she got her breathing under control, "Thought I'd hook up with you guys. Then I ran into **THAT** thing and pretty much ran the entire way here."

"And Mom let you do this why?" she asked knowing that her mother would have been both aware of her youngest's escape attempt and been in a position to stop it.

"She caught me after I jumped down from the roof." Dawn said immediately falling into her defiant younger sister attitude, "She was fine with me hooking up with you guys tonight. Even gave me this to slay with."

The purple skinned pixie held up a modified bayonet with a wooden handle that could double as a stake in a pinch and even she had to admit that it was pretty cool looking. Not that she let her appreciation of weapons put a dent in her Homo Sapien Invictus stare or soften her voice one bit.

"You had a weapon and you didn't even try to kill it?" she asked, jerking her head in the direction of the dead demon, "I know Dawn Summers doesn't know anything about fighting but if your costume personae was anything like Trance Gemini, then you must have had **some** fighting know how."

"A little. Dawn Gemini was sort of a sister to Trance, so I do know a little but… I got scared and flight looked a lot more appealing than fight," Dawn replied looking awkward and embarrassed at the fact that she'd acted like such a damsel in distress.

Figuring that the embarrassment of being such a helpless girly girl would be enough punishment for now, she softened her gaze before giving Dawn a once over. Nothing serious, some tears in her shirt and pants, but they'd probably have to break out the disinfectant for some of the nastier scraps on her arms.

"Let's get you home and patched up." She said before turning to Willow and Xander, "Can you guys cover Crestfield Cemetery until I get back?"

"Sure. It's been pretty quiet so there shouldn't be anything we can't handle." Willow said with a confident grin as she put her mini crossbow back into its customized holster.

Xander groaned at this and she could understand why.

"Better hurry back now, Buff'." Xander said as he idly twirled his staff in his right hand, "Wills just said a jinx, so we're probably going to bump into something red, with four eyes, four arms and strength enough to bench press a M1 Abrams tank. Not something I want to face with just a sharp piece of wood."

"Then I'll drop Dawn off home and grab an axe or two before I meet up with you guys." She said, tucking her stake beneath her belt. "Should be enough to take down a big red beast."

"Hey, I'm not that badly hurt and now that I'm with you guys, I'm safe enough!" Dawn protested, obviously not a fan of being caged again at home.

"If Xander's right, it'll probably take all of us to take down whatever's in Crestfield," she pointed out, not budging in her stance. "That leaves you by your lonesome and that means you'll have to handle the thing's handler."

"Handler?" Willow asked a bit confused at the term.

"Demons of the big and strong type are usually morons," she replied explaining her own little pearl of wisdom. "And since we haven't heard about a big lumbering demon smashing things, someone has to be keeping it in check. That means a handler."

The others looked at her in shock.

Almost as though they couldn't believe she'd said something smart like that.

_Sometimes the whole 'dumb blonde' stereotype really pisses me off!_ She thought angrily as she grabbed Dawn by the arm and started dragging her in the direction of home. _Besides, you'd think they'd realize by now that the only thing blonde about me comes from a bottle._

_**The Top of the Stone Wall Surrounding the Cemetery, Same Time**_

"Did you see what I saw?" she asked as she watched two of the people in the distance go one way while the other two went in another direction.

"It was rough, almost completely instinct, but the man was definitely using High Guard force lance staff techniques," he replied in a tone that implied he was thinking about something. "The Nietzschean woman was also using a style of combat my people often use… up until she seemed to lose her temper, that is."

They had been searching the town for any sign of the force that had brought the ship and them to this time and this reality. Yes, it had been something of a surprise when, during the information gathering about one Sunnydale, California, they had learned that **they** and all they knew existed here as nothing more than a form of entertainment. Both he and the only other person of rank on the ship had spent almost a full day attempting to learn all they could about this 'sci-fi show' and, by the end of it, all they had both answers, as well as problems. He and his 'companion' had thought that as long as they dressed like the locals and covered up anything that would make them stand out, they could go planetside without too much trouble. Now, though, there was the fact that they had doppelgangers in the form of celebrities and, as such, anyone who'd seen the show would recognize them. Unfortunately, all the knowledge they had about going undercover was useless since most of the basic methods they'd have used to conceal their presence were annoyingly ahead of their time. It was annoying because they either didn't have what they needed to pull it off or it'd only make them stand out more. In the end it had been decided that they'd only head down at night and would try to keep away from the more populated areas unless it was necessary for the mission.

_Still, things couldn't have turned out better._ He thought moving to follow the most promising lead with his 'partner' following. _Instead of taking days to find what we were looking for, it only took hours._

"That's not what's concerning me, though." She said with a frown as she checked the display on her forearm bracer.

"Let me guess: you find it odd that the young man fought like Dylan would have in that situation." He said, confident that he had a good grasp on his partner's train of thought.

"Yes," Was she said as she picked up the pace a bit in order to keep up with their quarry.

It sometimes amazed him how human she acted at times. For all that she was, all that she was meant to be, she had truly changed from the time he had last seen her prior to their displacement. Not that he had room to talk, considering he himself had been on one memorable journey prior to the duel that ended in his voluntary death. He had gone from someone who'd completely believed in his people, in their purpose, to being disgusted with how inferior they'd allowed themselves to become over the span of three hundred years. Now he believed that he was the only one that held true to the ideals and beliefs his people once held as sacred.

How did the young Nietzschean woman see things?

He didn't know but, once sufficient trust was built up, he intended to find out.


	3. Battles and Portents

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material contained herein. They are the rightful property of their respective creators and associated companies. I make no profit off of this whatsoever. I write because there are those who enjoy my work and because I have fun writing fanfic stories. Therefore I would appreciate it if the creators and companies refrain from filing any lawsuits against me. I can assure them that whatever you get from me won't cover even one tenth of what the lawyers will charge for their services.

_**Crestfield Cemetery, Twenty-Five Minutes Later, Willow's P.O.V**_

"Well, so far nothing big and nasty has come along to kill us." Willow said while at the same time keeping an eye out for trouble. "I'd say that's a positive sign."

"Unless it's one of those sneaky demons that could be watching us from the shadows, waiting for us to get into just the right position to make a two for one kill possible." Xander said, keeping his guard up even as he changed the position of his staff from time to time. "In which case, we won't see him coming until he's right on top of us."

"You're a real ray of sunshine, Xander." she said with a snort at her friend's comment. "You know that, right?"

"That's me. Mr. Positive." he said with his usual lopsided smile.

It had been like this for the last little while as they scoped out the area while waiting for Buffy to get back with her sharp metal implements of death. So far they hadn't come across anything that seemed evil, demonic or both. According to the program she wrote, they'd already taken care of the first time risers of the vampire population, as well as a few others, so that would pretty much be it for the undead for the rest of the night. Now they'd most likely bag a demon or three and then call it a night since she and Buffy had school to go to in the morning. It was then that she remembered the Fyarl demon nest that Giles had asked them to check out and realized that they'd be up a little later then she'd thought.

_Good thing I got the recipe for a pick me up in my head!_ She thought with a small grin as she recalled what she'd come across when inspecting Thief Valentine's memories.

While the majority of the items the character had used in her time were hopelessly too far in the future for her to take advantage of, there were a handful of neat little things that could be made with current resources. One of which was the formula for a stimulant that was ten times better than caffeine and wouldn't leave her with the lethargic aftereffects sugar often did. She'd made a small batch already but hadn't had a reason to test it out so far but, if things went the way she figured they would, that'd change come tomorrow morning. A small part of her was scheming about how she could patent the formula and then make a small fortune off of it.

The Wilhelmina part of her, though, wanted to make a **HUGE** fortune but she managed to keep her ambitions modest.

For the time being, at least.

She was about to ask how Xander's search for employment was going when her inherited thief instincts instantly went up a couple notches. This usually happened when her senses picked up something dangerous that her mind had yet to pick up on and usually kept the younger Valentine woman safe from things like sniper fire or really sneaky booby traps. Quickly placing a bolt in her mini-crossbow, she brought the weapon up in a ready position and waited for the slightest sign of where an enemy was. Without even looking she knew that Xander had picked up the same intangible feeling that danger was incoming as he now had a serious look on his face and his staff in a defensive position.

They didn't have long to wait because la large form surrounded by several smaller ones emerged from the shadows around them, ten in total.

Almost immediately she looked about the area for a good spot to perch on and fire her crossbow from but, sadly, there were none to be had. Was that why the demons had chosen now to attack? Because they knew that she preferred to strike from the closest high ground? If that was the case, then they were definitely dealing with smarter demons than usual since most that she and the others ran into at night were newbies or arrogant assholes.

"Look like Slayer pals better than me thought," said the largest of the demons who, surprisingly enough, did have four arms and four eyes.

Xander's prediction came true!

NOT GOOD!

"It not matter! You outnumbered! You too weak!" the four armed muscle man with a toothy smile, "YOU GOING TO BE DEAD! ATTACK!"

Doing a quick evaluation of the enemy, she wasn't pleased by what she saw.

Humanoid with lizard-like features and a ruby-like jewel in the middle of their forehead they were clad in a mix of leather and metal armor covering everything except their faces. All of them had swords in their hands and looked like they knew how to use them quite well. That was about all she could make out before her mind became occupied with evading attacks or blocking them if evasion was impossible. She could hear Xander attempting to keep them back using the extra length his staff gave him but, when it was metal against wood, metal would inevitably win before too much time has passed. Even if his weapon was metal, it wouldn't be effective if he didn't have room to use it and room was definitely something they were quickly running out of. Deciding to try something risky, she pretended to not see the next move of the demon in front of her she watched as it thrust its blade forward, no doubt to run her through. However, just as she judged, its balance was off so she grabbed its sword arm and forced it to impale one of its allies instead. She knew that was more Wilhelmina's doing than hers since the old Willow would be nowhere near as skilled at fighting but, as long as it kept her alive, she didn't care.

Seeing as how the demon that was just impaled was still standing, she had a feeling she'd have to give herself almost completely over to her costumes residual instincts and habits.

She didn't know how many minutes went by as she dodged, feinted and used the demons' numbers against them but, when next there was a lull in the fighting, she could see that numbers hadn't changed one bit.

"Xan? How you doing?" she said as she tried to get her breathing under control.

"A few nicks from their swords but I don't think they're poisoned or I'd be dead by now." Xander replied, sounding a little better off than she was. "Any ideas on how to make these guys stay down? 'Cause stabbing them ain't workin'!"

"Ya got me! I don't recognize them at all from Giles' books." She replied as looked in her mind for anything he might have missed on the first pass, "Decapitation maybe?"

"No handy blades except the ones they're holding. Worth a try?" he asked sounding cautiously optimistic.

"Better than dying!" she replied before lunging at one of the reptilian demons and taking its sword with a jerk/kick combo.

Not waiting, she immediately moved to take the head of the demon whose sword she now wielded but it appeared that even without a weapon, the armored monster wasn't a pushover. She managed to nick it a few times, to draw its blood, but never was she able to inflict a wound worth smiling about. Add to that the fact that she soon found herself assailed by the other demons and soon she was defending herself from almost every direction. Indeed it wasn't long before they were right back where they'd begun: back to back with not a single enemy dead on the ground.

"Got a plan B?" Xander asked with blood dripping from a stab wound in the shoulder.

"Pray for divine intervention?" she suggested rhetorically since she figured the odds of any higher power jumping in to save their asses to be somewhere between slim and none.

"Well, I don't know about being sent by God but if you're looking for help, it's here." Came a voice that she hadn't heard outside of a TV but before she could think much on it another familiar sound filled the air; the sound of Force Lances firing rapidly from somewhere on her right hand side.

Like pins at a bowling alley, the demon warriors were knocked to the ground and while not dead it gave both her and Xander a clear view of those who had come to their rescue.

A man and a woman, both of them clad in High Guard uniforms, both of them wielding Force Lances and both of them recognizable.

"Rommie? Rhade?!" Xander asked, both with astonishment and with a vein of familiarity that came not from knowing the characters, but rather the people.

_**Crestfield Cemetery, Same Time, Xander's P.O.V**_

His mind didn't want to believe what his eyes were conveying to it but his heart knew that the two people standing a little over thirty feet away were not a deception.

The first second his eyes had fallen upon them, he'd worried that some sort of hallucination had befallen him but he failed to see why showing him a positive thing would work to the demons' benefit. Maybe to lull them into a false sense of security? Not necessary when you outnumber your targets five to one and don't die from something as 'trivial' as a knife wound to the gut, so he had to accept the fact that these people were not only exactly what and who they appeared to be but that they were allies. Grabbing Willow by the arm, he led his friend to the side of Rommie so that they could provide a more united front against the demons who even now were beginning to get back to their feet.

"Perfect timing as always, Rommie, but I hope you have a plan 'cause nothing I've tried has worked so far." he said, looking with discouragement at the advancing group of demons.

He could tell he'd just added a new question for the avatar but, for the moment, both of them were in agreement that the demonic threat had to take priority over any sort of Q&A session.

"I might have a few ideas," Rommie replied before doing something to her Force Lance at android speeds.

He couldn't see the specifics but, when he heard a whine begin to come from the weapon, it jogged some memories that told him all he needed to know. With a throw, the projectile weapon turned explosive landed in the midst of the oncoming group of enemies, blowing up only seconds later, causing all but the four armed demon to be knocked to the ground. The largest one was merely staggered for a few moments and that did not bode well for them since it meant that the biggest bad would be a real bitch to put down. Then even worse news came their way as even being at ground zero of a Force Lance hand grenade wasn't enough to put down the lizard demons. They were injured but he doubted that they'd stay that way, given how his luck tended to run more often than not when facing the forces of darkness.

"Well that didn't work." Rhade said in his usual 'now what?' way.

"Well, I have an idea that always works and now that me and Willow aren't surrounded, it'll work just fine," he said a slightly bitter taste in his mouth at what he was about to suggest. "A tactical retreat."

"You suggest we **run** from them?!" Rhade asked with some shock and anger.

"We're outnumbered, have no idea what weaknesses the enemy has, if any, and the most powerful attack we've thrown at them so far they've shrugged off like it was a stun grenade," he said, taking a more assertive tone with the Nietzschean. "Seeing as how your people are in favor of survival, I'm surprised you're against the best way to stay alive at the moment."

"Fine," Rhade bit out bitterly since it could be perceived that running from a foe was a sign of weakness and, thus, inferiority.

The four of them made for the closest exit with all the speed they could muster, with him in the lead and Rommie watching their backs with Willow's recently acquired sword in her hands. He didn't know when the exchange happened but he considered it a good thing since it meant that the avatar would be able to knock aside any projectiles sent their way. They had just about reached one of the gates of Crestfield Cemetery when they spotted Buffy jogging towards them with three decent sized battle axes in her hands.

"Guys? What're you-?" was all Buffy was able to get out before he grabbed her by her upper right arm and forced her to run with the group.

"Questions later, Buff!" he said as he began to lead the group to the nearest maze of alleyways, where he hoped they could lose their pursuers. "Unknown demon types coming at us and the usual methods of murder/death/kill aren't working!"

The blonde struggled for a bit but then suddenly stopped and began to actually pull ahead of him a bit as they ran away from the cemetery. He figured the change had been brought about by the fact that the Slayer could now see the entirety of the group set against them, as well as his predicted four armed and four eyes demon being present. While some might be hurt by their friends not having more faith in their predictions, even he had been surprised when he'd guessed right about what they'd find in the next cemetery.

_Maybe I should see if this can work in our favor._ he thought on whim and a prayer. _I predict that we'll successfully lose all ten of the baddies!_

Through twists and turns they ran, picking the direction they'd run in at random in order to make sure that their path couldn't be predicted and thus susceptible to an ambush. It was about twenty minutes later that they finally came to a stop but, as one, the five of them listened carefully for any sign that they were still being followed. There were some sounds of footsteps but they were easily a couple blocks away and didn't seem to be getting closer, so it was with some wariness that they came to the conclusion that they had indeed successfully lost their pursuers.

Of course this led both Rommie and Rhade to focus their attention on Scoobies, so there was a chance things could still go south on them.

Scratching the back of his head with some anxiety he asked, "I'm guessing you'd like some answers to some questions now, right?"

The looks he got from what he truly believed were two genuine High Guard officers was the only answer he needed.

"Then it'd probably be best to get the whole gang together so we can get them all done at once," he said before stepping in the direction of the Summers home. "Follow me."

Without waiting to see if Rhade and Rommie were following them, he walked at a brisk pace towards what he felt was probably the best place for a Q&A session. It was essentially their territory and he had stashed quite a few weapons about the home without any Summers lady knowing about it, so they wouldn't be unarmed. Not that he was convinced that they'd be able to beat an android and a decorated Nietzschean First Officer with them but it was better than nothing. Sensing someone coming up alongside him, he turned his head just enough to see that it was Buffy before looking straight ahead again.

"Before you say anything, Buffy, keep in mind that both our new friends back there have hearing sharp enough to hear every word we say, even if we whisper."

"Fine. What's the big deal inviting them back to our place?!" she asked, sounding angry that two strangers were being brought to her place of safety. "We don't know who they are!"

"Sure we do. The lady is Rommie, an avatar for the heavy cruiser Andromeda Ascendant, and the guy is I believe Gaheris Rhade," he replied, completely nonchalantly as completely oblivious to her emotional state. "Though he could be Telemachus, since they both look exactly the same."

"Who cares!?" Buffy almost bellowed before reigning herself in a bit. "Rommie and Rhade are **fictional** characters from a TV show. It is much more likely that these two are working **with** the demons we were running from. It's the oldest trick in the book! Look like you're a hero and then slit throats when your targets' guard is down!"

"Possible, but unlikely. The demons already had me and Willow beat by the time they joined in the fun," he said while keeping part of his mind on the 'newcomers' behind him. "If they wanted us dead, they could have just let us die there and then taken you by surprise while you went on a rampage. Your technique does tend to take a hit when you're mad."

This, of course, caused her to steam for a couple of seconds since her inherited Nietzschean qualities wouldn't like having flaws pointed out.

"Besides which, working Force Lances and evidence of android level speed and dexterity was proof enough for me that they are who I think they are," he said, listing why he was confident in his appraisal of the identities of their new guests. "Then there's the fact that if they're here, then there's no telling what else has been brought to our reality thanks to Ethan's Halloween spell. I for one think we should take all the help we can get."

This did the job of shutting her up but he had a feeling that it'd only last until her mind managed to come up with some decent counter arguments.

He figured he'd be ready for her by noon tomorrow when that happened.

_**The Summers Home, Forty-Five Minutes Later, Giles' P.O.V**_

_Well, now we will just have to wait to see how they receive the truth._ Giles thought after finishing his explanation of the supernatural and the Halloween spell.

It had been fifteen minutes ago that Buffy, Xander and Willow returned home with some rather surprising guests in tow. When he'd first laid eyes on the Andromeda's android avatar and Dylan Hunt's treacherous second in command, he had thought that someone else had been saddled with unwanted side effects of the Halloween spell. However it was when he noticed the behavior of Xander and Willow that he began to suspect that something more serious might be afoot.

As the introductions had been made and the questions started flying around, he had carefully scrutinized the newcomers and began to see signs that supported Xander's claims about them being the 'real deal'. While he had noticed, both in himself as well as in the others, certain characteristics of their costumed personaes exerting their influence, all of them had, for the most part, remained themselves. In fact he would describe them more as actors who were having difficulty letting go of their respective roles once the camera stopped recording. However these newcomers possessed no signs of hesitation, no deviation from behavior commonly associated with who they appeared to be. While it was possible that their original pre-Halloween personaes had merely been submerged or, at worst, destroyed by the effects of the spell, he didn't think that would be the case. The trauma caused by either possibility would have been all too evident in their behavior and would have almost certainly flared when Buffy used her usual approach to convince them that they were normal people lost in their costumes. However, instead of becoming significantly defensive or violent, they merely treated Buffy as either someone supremely stupid or a bit touched in the head.

At that point Rommie had demanded an explanation of what they meant by 'spell' and how Dawn had brought them to this reality. This, of course, caused everyone in the room to turn to him as though they hadn't heard him give the 'true nature of the world' speech a dozen times over. With a sigh he began with simply saying that in this world magic and demons were as real as they were before delivering the origin of the world speech. He went on to explain Buffy's Calling, how Willow and Xander had gotten involved, before elaborating on the Halloween spell itself including the information he'd managed to discover earlier in the evening. It hadn't been much, given the time that had passed since the night in question, but what he had found pretty much confirmed his suspicion that Ethan had modified the spell for the Andromeda costumes. He had explained his theory as best he could to the two High Guard officers but in a way he felt their science oriented minds might be able to both understand as well as accept more easily.

_One of the few bloody times my Halloween inheritance is actually useful. _He thought as he waited with the rest of the 'Scooby Gang' to see what would happen next.

"Let me see if I have this right," Rhade said in a tone of voice that did nothing to make his opinion known. "We're in a dimension different from our own, where 'magic' and 'demons' are as real as slipstream drives and Magog are in our dimension. This town of Sunnydale is a major gathering point for both and your group combats them in an effort to protect the people of not only this city but the world. You're also saying that we were brought here due to modifications this Ethan Rayne made to your costumes that somehow amplified the reality warping nature of the 'spell' to bring us here and permanently change you. Does that about sum it up?"

"Basically, yeah," Xander replied from his position next to Willow, "though why exactly the spell would bring you here instead of just making more changes to us, I don't know. Guess that's why it's called chaos magic."

"Indeed," Rhade said before turning to Rommie. "Are they telling the truth?"

"They are not showing any of the more significant signs of lying, either physiologically or in terms of body language," Rommie replied before turning back to the Scoobies. "So they're either telling us the truth or they're the most accomplished liars I've ever met."

Commander Rhade seemed to consider this news for a moment, no doubt wondering if he should attempt to expose their 'falsehoods' or not, but after a few minutes reached a decision.

"Assuming you're being truthful, do you know of any way to reverse the dimensional displacement?" Rhade asked still sounding skeptical only not quite as openly. "We left some things unsettled back in our own dimension."

"Unfortunately, no. Up until your appearance tonight, we believed the permanent changes from the spell were limited to only us." he replied, taking his glasses off for a moment to clean them. "The fact that it somehow brought you two here directly from your native dimension is decidedly outside of what I thought the spell capable of. It will take considerable research, to say nothing of time, but I will do what I can to help you."

"Thank you," Rhade stated with professionalism and trace amounts of bitterness that could barely be detected.

_Dimensional displacement AND reversal of a chaos spell._ he thought to himself as he imagined the amount of work ahead of him. _They must think I'm a bloody miracle worker!_

He was about to move onto perhaps arranging for accommodations for the two when he noticed Xander looking at them in a rather peculiar way. It was a look of contemplation and focus that soon gave way to an 'I know something' look, complete with smug smile on his face. He was about to ask what the boy was thinking about when the pseudo High Guard commander got up from his seat and approached the duo.

The look on his face plus those actions made a mass of dread form in the pit of his stomach.

"So… you guys plan on finding a place in town to stay until G-man finds you a way home or do you have a Phoenix stashed somewhere to take you back to the Andromeda?" Xander asked in a perfectly conversational tone of voice, the smile never leaving his face.

To their credit, if either Rommie or Rhade knew what the young man was talking about, they didn't give anything away visually. He knew what sort of ship Xander was referring to since it was an atmospheric attack craft that was usually found on Glorious Heritage Class Heavy Cruiser. What he could not understand was what made Xander think they had such a craft, much less the Andromeda Ascendant itself. While it was true he no longer believed the two to be ordinary people drastically altered into the characters they'd dressed up, he didn't believe anything else had happened.

"What makes you think we have a Phoenix 'stashed' anywhere or that the Andromeda is in orbit?" Rommie asked, scrutinizing the twenty-something man.

"Well, for one thing it's been two weeks since the spell was broken and I think the two of you would've caused a big enough stir around here that we would have heard something before now." Xander replied never once looking like he doubted the conclusion he'd come to. "Then there's the fact that Rommie can't stay away from the Andromeda Ascendant for more than a few days without running out of power. Add those two elements to the fact that you have working force lances when the ones my friends and I had turned back into plastic props after the spell ended and there's only one answer. Both of you appeared onboard the Andromeda Ascendant during the spell and only came down here in the last day or two."

"A logical theory except the part where you would have heard about us had we been planetside for the last two weeks. Both Rommie and myself are perfectly capable of evading detection." Rhade said, giving not a single thing away that would confirm or deny Xander's theory.

"Maybe in the time you're from, but with limited resources on a planet Earth thousands of years behind what you know and demons running around the town like roaches, I don't think so." Xander stated as though Rhade's statement nothing. "Your both good but unless both of you are secretly expert historians with special focus on twentieth century Earth, you'd make mistakes all over the place."

He was about to put in his own opinion backed by his knowledge of magic when a beeping noise that was both familiar and unfamiliar reached his ears. The source was confirmed when Rhade brought his right wrist brace up to his face indicating he had a working communicator attached to the brace. With the press of a button the connection was opened and he wondered what the cause of the communication was.

"What is it, Lieutenant?" Rhade asked just like a High Guard Commander should.

"Commander, long range sensors have detected a large temporal anomaly near Mars." Came a digitized female voice from the comm unit. "It's easily the size of a Pyrian Torchship, if not bigger. The amount of energy it's putting out is increasing dramatically and… wait! Something's coming out… Two, no, four, make that seven ships of unknown configuration have exited the anomaly. Extrapolating their course… they're headed straight for Earth."

This had half the room abuzz while the remaining half pondered this new data with a look of professional focus on their faces with him being one of them. Truth be told, he was still coming to grips with fictional characters from another dimension showing up as real as the rest of them. To accept the idea of a High Guard heavy cruiser being in orbit and more alien ships approaching from Mars was starting to push him to the limit of what he could handle without breaking out the Greenore. Nevertheless, he had a feeling he would have to postpone his appointment with a shot glass until a later date.

"Weapons?" Rhade asked, going for the first thing a Nietzschean would be concerned about.

"Unknown. Sensors are having a hard time identifying the key systems but they are on an attack vector for the planet. ETA twenty-five minutes." Replied the female on the other end.

"We're on our way. Rhade out." Rhade said before turning back to the group. "We'll have to continue this another time."

"Anything we can help with?" Xander asked, looking like the gears were turning in his head, something that was bad before the Halloween spell and could quite possibly have gotten worse since the spell if the feeling in his gut was correct.

"We appreciate the thought but we can handle it." Rhade said with the bare minimum politeness.

"You mean Rommie and, unless my ears were on the fritz a few seconds ago, Lieutenant Refractions of Dawn will handle it," Xander said visibly suppressing a smile on his face. "After all, assuming you're still going by High Guard procedures and protocol, then you yourself don't really have any real authority anymore. I mean… unless my mind is playing tricks on me, it's standard procedure when an officer aboard a High Guard ship commits sabotage, murder and attempted murder as well as treason, he is at least confined to quarters and placed under guard until trial."

The feeling in his gut got worse as he began to wonder why the founding male member of the Scoobies was discussing what he believed would be a rather touchy subject with the Nietzschean. For a moment he considered stepping forward and stopping Xander from saying anything more, given that both sides would likely be interacting with each other for some time. However, before taking a step, his curiosity managed to persuade him to wait a bit longer before doing anything. It was a longshot but he thought there was a chance that the young man had a reason for speaking like he was.

"That is standard procedure but, given that the ship is lacking a large portion of its crew, certain rules were… bent." Rommie stated, appearing as though she too was curious to see where things were going.

"Then seeing as how you're short a couple thousand people, I think my friends and I could help fill a few positions for the duration of the crisis." Xander said clasping his hands behind his back.

"Xander! What do you think you're doing?" Buffy asked, surprised as she walked swiftly to look her friend in the eye.

"Just offering a helping hand, Buff." Xander replied with his usual lopsided grin. "Plus, if there's a group of alien ships headed to Earth looking to cause some trouble, I'd rather be up in space with my finger ready to fire a volley or two of missiles then down here as a defenseless target."

That made why the young man wanted to offer assistance clearer but not why he was specifically trying to get Rhade confined to quarters.

"I understand but, if your knowledge of our technology is on the same level as the fighting skills you exhibited in the cemetery, then you're not much better than an ensign straight from the academy." Rhade said with amazingly little offense in his voice. "Besides which, you've already explained that you're not truly High Guard. All of your knowledge and abilities were gained through… magic two weeks ago. It would be a breach of protocol to allow civilians onto the ship going into a potential combat situation."

"Depending on precisely when the Andromeda and Rommie were taken from, Dylan Hunt did precisely that when he was pulled free of the black hole three hundred years after the fall of the Old Commonwealth." Xander said, countering Rhade's argument with one of his own. "Not one of them had ever been through the academy and probably hadn't seen much in the way of High Guard tech, either, but they still managed to help out on numerous occasions and played crucial roles in the establishing of the New Systems Commonwealth."

He had to grin a bit at how well the boy was both defending the abilities of the Scoobies and pointing out how irrelevant certain protocols were at the moment.

"I'm not saying that we're going back with you once G-man manages to figure out a way to send you home. We don't belong there." Xander said, becoming earnest and serious for the first time. "But this is our planet, our **home**, and we deserve the chance to defend it. That's all I'm asking for: a chance."

For a moment silence reigned in the house, neither side talking but very likely considering their positions in this debate. For himself while the thought of being on board a spaceship bordered on the fantastic and the bizarre, he had to admit he too would prefer to play a role in the defense of the planet. That was, after all, one of the primary mandates of the Watcher's Council: defense of the planet against non-human and paranormal threats. Thus, with his duty clear, he stepped forward clearing his throat to gain everyone's attention.

"I understand your reluctance to place such faith in relative strangers, Commander Rhade. Despite the memories I gained from the spell on Halloween, I feel similar reluctance where you are concerned. However it is the duty of every Watcher to do what they can to protect the people of this world from whatever unconventional threats may threaten them. I would be derelict in my duties if I failed to request your permission in dealing with these unknown spacecraft."

"Where Xander goes, I go," Dawn said, stepping up to the right side of Xander. "Besides, it'd probably be smart to find out just how much the spell changed us. Finding out a month from now that it gave us cancer or something would not be fun."

"Well, I'm not letting my youngest go anywhere without me." Joyce said, surprising many of the Scoobies. "Besides, as clan Matriarch of my family, I won't let anyone harm them."

"Hey, I'll go if for no other reason then to get a pair of gauss pistols out of the deal, plus the gear needed to keep'em in perfect working order." Willow said, getting up from the couch to stand with the rest of them. "And, of course, help protect the planet. Can't have it blowing up before I make my fortune introducing all the future tech I have the plans for."

Not exactly the most altruistic reason for defending ones world but he wrote it off as the Valentine in her exerting some influence. With the redhead's decision that only left Buffy, who seemed a little overwhelmed at the idea of doing something so different from what she was used to. However, one pass over the rest of the Scoobies with her eyes and she sighed in defeat before standing up to join the rest of them.

"I'm not going to even try to tell you guys how crazy you're acting." Buffy said, rolling her eyes at what she was getting herself into, "But if you're all going to go try to slay a bunch of aliens, then I guess you'll need a Slayer to make sure you make it out alive. Count me in."

With the declaration of their desires made clear, he turned to Rhade and Rommie, waiting their decision since the Andromeda was their ship.

"It is their world and they may need to familiarize themselves with the Andromeda in order to send us back." Rommie pointed out, seemingly in favor of letting the Scoobies help.

For a moment it looked like the Nietzschean would continue to argue the point but in the end he gave in, even though it almost certainly left a bitter taste in his mouth. After all, it was a defeat no matter how small and defeat to a Nietzschean was equated with weakness and that of course was connected to inferiority.

No Nietzschean liked being inferior. He just hoped that Rhade didn't decide to make something of this later on.

_**Eighteen Minutes Later, Earth Orbit, Approaching the Andromeda Ascendant, Buffy's P.O.V**_

Seeing the large silver ship hanging in the emptiness of space, she couldn't help but be in awe of the sight.

Yet at the same time her Elizabeth side was causing her to sort of feel like it was perfectly normal to leave the surface of a world and board a massive war ship. It was an odd mixture of feelings but she didn't let them get to her all that much since she didn't want to look like a gaping fool in front of everybody.

It didn't take them long to enter the main hanger of the Andromeda Ascendant and, once they were all out, the familiarity she'd felt from the lingering remnants of her Nietzschean personae increased. This was normal for Elizabeth. This was the level of technology that the daughter of the Matriarch of Slayer Pride was used to using in the performance of her duties. It looked so much more **real** than what she'd seen when the gang had gotten together one night after Halloween to watch a few episodes of "Gene Rodenberry's Andromeda". Watching it on TV it had obviously been a set constructed by people for the purpose of appearing millennia ahead of what was currently available to even the most prosperous government. It had looked fake unless you suppressed your need to figure everything out and place facts as well as figures on everything you heard or saw.

Now, though… now she could sense how advanced everything was and, thanks to her Elizabeth memories, she had more than enough facts about every part and system her eyes fell upon. She now had no doubt that they would be able to perform whatever duties were given to her and not screw up because she didn't know what she was doing. She could read the weird writing that had appeared on the screens aboard the craft they'd used to get into space and had been able to follow the steps Rommie had taken every step of the way. Unless they put her in a position that Elizabeth had never once been put before, she would acquit herself well.

"Anrdomeda, report." Rhade commanded as they exited the hanger bay and entered the hallways of the ship.

"The unknown ships are less than six minutes from entering optimum firing range of the planet," Andromeda, a digitized copy of Rommie's voice, replied. "Lieutenant Refractions of Dawn is moving the ship to place us between the unknowns and the planet."

"Good. Tell her not to take any action, hostile or passive, until we reach the command deck." Rhade stated, approving the chief helmsperson's actions.

"So what positions are you going to have us fill?" Xander asked, getting right to the point so he can no doubt mentally review his position's abilities.

"You will be my executive officer for the duration of this situation," Rhade said, surprising everyone a little by putting Xander is such an important position. "Dawn will be the Life Support Officer while her mother will be the Science Officer. Willow will take the Engineering station while Mr. Giles will be in charge of the communications station."

"And me?" she asked wondering what position she'd be left with.

"You'll be the acting Weapons Officer," Rhade replied without looking back as the group made for the command deck at a brisk pace.

She had to smile at the naming of her position because it essentially meant she'd be the one to press the buttons that fired the weapons and made stuff blow up.

It didn't take them long to reach the command deck and, the moment they cleared the doors, each Scooby went to their assigned positions without any hesitation. Naturally both screen Andromeda and the green bug woman standing at the helmsperson's station were a bit surprised to see the newcomers but a single look from Rhade told them to wait until later to answer questions. Looking down at her station she delved into the knowledge left behind by Elizabeth and immediately began to run through a quick checklist to ascertain the status of the ship's weapons. From what she was seeing there were still a few tertiary systems that had some bugs in them but for the most part the ship was battle ready. Looking over to her friends and family she could see that they were settling into their new positions quite well and when her eyes met with each of theirs a nod of readiness was what she got.

"Put the alien vessels on screen." Rhade ordered from his position at the Captain's station.

Looking to the front of the command deck, she watched as the largest of the screens there flicked to an image of space where seven ships were advancing towards them. There was one in the center that sort of looked like a giant sized version of your typical NASA space shuttle but had a more organic appearance, as well as yellow-ish coloring. There were three ships arranged around it in triangle formation that were dwarfed by the large one they were surrounding but had the same coloring and were shaped like space faring pistols. The remaining three ships were obviously the fighter craft of the group and they were flying alongside the main group but looked as though they could break away and attack on a moment's notice. However, as she examined the readings that were being directed to her console, she understood why bug-lady was unable to give a definite answer when it came to what sort of firepower the aliens possessed. They were unlike anything in the High Guard database and, while a quick search allowed for something as high as a sixty-five percent match, that still left a thirty-five percent chance they were something else entirely.

"Open a channel." Rhade commanded as he took his station.

"Channel open."

"This is Commander Gaheris Rhade of the Commonwealth starship Andromeda Ascendant," Gaheris stated clearly and politely. "Identify yourselves and state your intentions."

They didn't have long to wait because, within seconds of the words leaving the Nietzschean's mouth, all of the enemy vessels save for the largest one opened fire with everything they had.

"Battle stations!" Commander Rhade commanded, causing the lighting on the command deck to change and blue lights to switch on.

The ship rocked violently as the first salvo of enemy fire hit them before Bug Girl could begin evasive maneuvers.

Deciding that the diplomacy phase of the encounter was over with, she immediately established targeting locks on all the alien craft but putting priority on the largest. That was without doubt the command and control ship where all the important people would be. Whether it was because of their cowardice or because they were so valuable that they had to be protected the big shots were always placed on the strongest ship of a group. She was about to press the button to launch a volley of missiles when she realized that no order had been given and she'd probably get a lecture for acting without orders.

"Permission to return fire?" she asked Rhade, her finger never leaving the button that would do the task.

"Permission granted. Fire at your discretion." Rhade replied without looking away from his own station, "Lieutenant, evasive maneuvers."

"Aye, commander! Evasive maneuvers." Replied the bug lady before moving in such a manner so as to avoid what appeared to be blue beams and yellow energy bolts.

Between launching volleys of offensive kinetic missiles, she tried to use her combat sensors to get a feel for the enemy weapons and how powerful they were. The beams look like they could only be sustained in three to four second bursts at a time with as little as a second between bursts. The good news about that was the fact that, with the right pilot at the helm and a fast ship, a second was all that'd be needed to evade enemy fire. The bad part, however, was that it looked like the weapon had enough power to put some serious pressure on the AG fields and punch through to the hull if the same spot was battered repeatedly. As for the energy bolts, they were as powerful as the Andromeda's own kinetic missiles but didn't appear to possess the ability to home in on their targets. The beam weapon had a wider range of fire in that it could fire small arcs but, for the yellow bolts, they had to be fired in straight lines. In terms of threat potential and which targets needed to be taken out first, it was a close call since both the fighters and the ships surrounding the mother ship had comparable firepower at their disposal. In the end she chose to focus her assault on the larger escort ships and leave dealing with the fighters to the combat drones.

However what bothered her though was that there was almost no weapons fire coming from the C&C mother ship. You would think that being the biggest of all the ships and carrying important cargo, it'd have the most powerful kaboom makers of the entire group. Yet the majority of the weapons on the large crafter were focused on intercepting incoming missiles and preventing serious damage to the vessel. That made her curious and so, to test a theory, she redirected the entirety of the Andromeda Ascendant's offensive abilities at the large spaceship.

"Summers! What are you doing?" Rhade asked, no doubt upset that she was ignoring all the other ships.

"Testing a theory," she snapped as she carefully watched the sensors at her station.

For the most part she didn't see anything new, missiles being intercepted by energy weapon fire, but then she saw what she'd been looking for. When the concentration of incoming fire became too much for the mother ship's defenses to handle, the three escort ships moved themselves between the Andromeda and their C&C ship. With this done she allowed the ship's weapons to return to their previous targets while she focused her tactical sensors on the parts of the massive vessel that her assault had gotten through to. She couldn't see much, given the confusing nature of the ships design and the Andromeda's tactical sensors weren't designed for in depth analysis. However she was able to tell that the places where she'd hit weren't as damaged as they should have been. It was enough to let her know that they could definitely destroy it but also that there were above average protections in the hull since the missiles and AP cannons were doing more pleasing amounts of damage to the other ships.

That meant that there was something on board the mother ship that they seriously didn't want to get damaged before they reached their destination, aka Earth. Some precious yet destructive cargo was her bet.

"Hey, Mom? Could you do a more in depth scan of that mother ship for me?" she asked while using the AP cannons to polish off one of the fighters. "I think they've got a secret in there and I want a peek."

A nod was her response before her mother's fingers went to work typing in commands and utilizing every feature the ship's sensors had. It was seriously freaksome to see her Mom using systems so advanced they made the latest computer look like stone tablet and chisel but she just wrote it off as leftover Halloween spell stuff. The same though could be said about how she could operate her console like she was flipping through an issue of Cosmo.

The ship rocked as if to tell her to stop daydreaming and focus on the task at hand.

_Fine. FINE! I'll concentrate!_ She said as she did her best to destroy or at least force the fighter craft a healthy distance away from the Andromeda.

"Ummm… I don't pretend to be an expert in this and weapons weren't exactly the Matriarch's specialty but…" Joyce said. sounding unsure if she should say anything without being certain.

"What is it?" Rhade asked sound a little irritated at the hesitation.

"According to the sensors, the main ship looks to have a hanger bay of sorts big enough to hold six of the smaller cruisers but, from what I can tell, it's empty except for one thing." Her mother replied as she continued to work the console to get more answers, "I'm having a hard time getting a solid reading on it but it looks to be some sort of cannon but I'm having a hard time figuring out what type. Andromeda? Can you make anything out of this information?"

"From what I can tell, it is currently in standby mode and looks as though the aliens designed it to be lowered out of the main hanger before firing," replied the image of Andromeda on the screen. "In its current state I can't get a definitive fix on its destructive capability but I am reading low concentrations of tachyon particles with the cannon at the center."

"A temporal cannon!?" Xander exclaimed before catching himself and assuming a more professional appearance. "That is **not** good. Considering the welcome we got and their destination, it's obvious they intend to use this weapon on Earth."

"That would seem to be the most likely objective of the alien forces considering their actions," Rommie stated from her position as another more violent attack hit the ship causing sparks to fly from a nearby console.

"Then we have a target. Lieutenant set—" Rhade began to order before the ship was hit harder than ever before, causing his console to explode in front of him sending him up into the air before crashing back to the deck.

"Rhade!" Rommie exclaimed before rushing to his side to check his vitals.

She could tell just by looking at him that he was pretty banged up but what else could you expect when your console blew up in your face.

"Get him to Medical!" Xander ordered only taking a moment to glance at the fallen Nietzschean, "Dawn! Go with her!"

Though it was a bit of a surprise both women did as the acting XO commanded without hesitation or questioning his authority. As the ship was hit again, she had to wonder how long any of them had before they all joined Rhade. As well as they were doing with Bug Girl's piloting skills and the rest of the gang doing their best, she didn't need to look at what her console was telling her to know they were getting hammered.

"I don't know about the rest of you but we need a plan **fast**." Bug Girl said as she aggressively shifted the controls from left to right and back again. "I can't keep dodging and keep them from reaching Earth forever."

For a moment there was silence but she found that, like herself, everyone was turning to Xander to come up with a plan since he was officially next in command after Rhade.

"Alright, I have an idea." Xander said as his demeanor changed to someone on a mission, "It's a little crazy but it just might work."

_**Executive Officer's Station, Andromeda Ascendant, Two Minutes Later, Xander's P.O.V**_

"You're insane," was the calm yet disbelieving appraisal Buffy has of his plan.

"Maybe, but they say you can't predict the plans of crazy people and, in this case, I hope that's the truth," he said from his station as he drew on all he'd inherited to calculate precisely how things would have to go down. "Now while I'd like to put this to a vote, we're running a little short on time. Let's start phase one of the plan."

"Aye, sir. Beginning phase one, also known as 'charging headlong into death'." Lieutenant Refractions of Dawn said before manipulating the controls so that they matched her words.

_I have got to be out of my __**MIND**__!_ He thought never once stopping his hands from moving across his console.

Nevertheless, it was the best plan his mind was capable of coming up with on such short notice and did have a **chance** of working so long as these aliens didn't think too hard about what they were doing. If they actually took the time to think things through, they'd see the truth and everyone aboard the Andromeda Ascendant would die a minute later. Still, if the battle so far was any indication, the aliens seemed to think with their guns more than their brains, so he'd just have to roll the dice and hope everything went according to plan.

Watching the tactical display to the right of the main view screen, he had to show at least some satisfaction that the aliens did precisely as he'd expected by placing themselves between the Andromeda and their mother ship. Of course this also meant that a lot of firepower was now being concentrated in a specific direction but the Than pilot was doing an admirable job of evasion while still advancing. As he watched the distance between the High Guard ship and the group of alien ships, he put his finger over the trigger he'd routed to his console. He had to time this just right or else things would become significantly more complicated.

"Ten thousand meters to impact," Mrs. S told him and, with a single push of a button, he released the finale of phase one a second before Glorious Heritage class ship turned ninety degrees upward and flew away.

What was released was half of the proximity mines carried aboard the Andromeda Ascendant.

Normally these objects would come to a slow stop not too far from where they were released but at the speed Refractions was going, at least twenty percent of their total speed carried over to the mines, causing them to easily cover the remaining distance to the alien warships. Each mine, of course, caused about ten megatons of damage when at rest, waiting for the target ship to fly within range, but when you added the momentum that was carried over from the Andromeda, that went up significantly. While it was true that a little less than half of the mines were destroyed under the combined firepower of the alien ships their small size, their speed and the brief intervals between energy blasts allowed the rest to get through easily. As a result, the final remaining fighter craft was completely destroyed and two of the three escort ships along with it leaving only one still whole but the damage to it was severe.

"Lieutenant! Buffy! Initiate phase two!" he commanded as he felt the ship reorient to do an attack run on the mother ship.

Thrown off guard by his unexpected use of the proximity mines, what defenses the kilometers long ship had were slow to get a lock on them. He could tell by the information on his screen that they were getting their act together as the energy blasts were getting closer by the second to hitting their mark. Buffy, of course, wasn't idle during all this because, while the helmsperson was flying them through this attack run, Buffy was using every weapon that wouldn't damage the Andromeda at the same time to pepper the C&C ship's surface. However it was almost time for the finale of the phase and once again it was up to him to initiate it from his console. Carefully watching the rear end of the alien mother ship coming up, he mentally rethought the length of what he would use next plus the stresses that he'd be placing on them. In the end he concluded they'd likely snap within three seconds but that would be enough to accomplish with them what he wanted.

With his adrenaline pumping and his focus heightened, he watched as the aft of the alien command ship vanished from the screen and immediately pressed the button his finger had been hovering over.

"Bucky cables away!" he declared hoping that he didn't screw up.

Fortunately it seemed that lady luck was on his side and, right before he was about to label this part of his plan a screw up, all of the cables he'd fired latched on to the enemy ship. This allowed two things to happen; the first was that it took away a sizeable portion of the Andromeda's speed but the key part was that it also caused the heavy cruiser to move in an arc going from being above the target to below it, placing it in prime position to fire on the mother ship's main hanger.

"Buffy! Time to kick down a door!"

"Consider it kicked!" Buffy replied, firing a salvo offensive kinetic missiles and Strategic Star Arrow mk V missiles that soon became visible on the main viewer.

Seconds later a chain reaction of explosions covered the area where sensors said the hanger doors were located and, with one final boom of decompression, all obstructions to the temporal weapon were destroyed.

Looking at the thing, he could safely say that he was impressed with its size if nothing else, and that had absolutely nothing to do with him being a guy. From what he could see, it took up three quarters of the hanger bay and appeared to be attached to a mechanical arm, which no doubt was in charge of lowering it out of the ship so it could be fired.

After he got over the sheer size of the weapon, a question came to mind that he honestly didn't have an answer for beyond the obvious: How the **HELL** were they going to destroy this thing?

Trying to think things through in the seconds that he had before the Andromeda started taking damage again, he immediately came to the conclusion that even if they fired everything they had at device it was unlikely that it'd be damaged beyond repair. It was over five thousand meters in length and that was four times the size of the Andromeda Ascendant herself. There was also the chance that there was armor plating on the outside to protect all the important inner mechanisms, so that it could still fire while being bombarded by attacks. However, as he was reviewing all this information, he had an epiphany that had him smiling at how well it could work out.

"Andromeda? How many of the bucky cables are still in one piece?" he asked while putting together the final phase of his plan.

"Three are still in perfect working order and one is damaged but could still be used in the short term without breaking." Andromeda replied promptly before a puzzled look appeared on her face. "Why do you ask?"

"I don't think that we have the firepower to destroy the cannon but we might be able to take out the mechanical arm," he said as he began utilizing the sensor drones to determine the weak points of the artificial appendage. "Then all we have to do is use the cables to grab a hold of the cannon and make a run for it. If it's as important to these aliens as I think it is, they'll chase us and move away from Earth."

"Sounds like a plan, Xan!" Buffy said as targeting crosshairs began to appear on the screen showing the cannon and the mechanical arm attached to it with most of them focused on the arm. "Ready when you are!"

"Fire!" he ordered with a bit of drama that just couldn't be helped.

A focused bombardment of missiles hit key structural points on the mechanical arm, shattering metal, glass and tubing alike. There were a few extra explosions triggered but nowhere near enough for him to think that they could sit on their butts and watch it all go out with a bang. Still, Buffy had done a good job and within seconds the mechanical arm was destroyed, leaving the cannon drifting out into open space due to the force of the explosions.

"The cannon's free," Joyce declared before a worried look showed on her face, "but I'm reading a build up of Tachyon particles within it."

"What!? You mean it's going to fire?!" he exclaimed, not expecting this turn of evens in the least.

"Nope. No chance of that happening." Joyce said, tapping away at the console in front her.

"Oh. Well that's good," he sighed in relief at the fact that he hadn't accidentally set off the very thing he'd been trying to stop.

"Then what's got you wigged, Mom?" Buffy asked, her tone sounding like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"The fact that it looks like it's going to overload and blow up." Joyce replied with amazing calmness, considering the implications of what she said.

"WHAT!?" everyone exclaimed, including Lieutenant Refractions of Dawn.

"Confirmed. It looks like the mechanical arm was designed for more than just lowering the cannon out of the ship." Andromeda said while displaying the information on the view screens. "It also contained several regulatory mechanisms meant to keep this very thing from happening. Estimated time to detonation: fifteen minutes."

"Um… okay, ideas people?" he asked, trying not to let everyone see how much he was freaking out.

"Can't we just throw it into the sun or something?" Buffy asked, grasping at straws for a solution to their issue.

"That would only make things worse. While the sun would be capable of destroying the cannon, the tachyon energy that would have built up by the time it enter the chromosphere would destroy it along with everything in the solar system, including us." Andromeda replied while the numbers showing the energy build up continued to climb.

The others continued to propose ideas but each one seemed to end with the destruction of something that they very much wanted to keep intact, whether it was the Earth or themselves. He too was having trouble coming up with a way to resolve the issue that didn't end in one big mess.

_MAN! Times like these I wish I could just wrap this whole mess up in paper, stick a stamp on it and label the whole thing return to sender!_ he thought with frustration at the seemingly hopeless situation.

Then, like a lightning bolt had hit him, a thought began to take hold in his mind. It then evolved into a concept before blossoming into an idea that was just crazy enough to work.

"Andromeda! Fire all the bucky cables we have and grab a hold of the cannon!" he said with confidence in his plan on the rise. "Mrs. S? Status of the time portal near Mars that the aliens came through?"

"Give me a second," Joyce replied as she tapped commands into her console. "It's still there and doesn't show any signs of collapsing anytime soon. Based on these readings, I'd say we have at least four days before it shuts down. Why do you want to know?"

"Oh, well, because I thought it might be nice to tell the people on the other side of it that it's not nice to dump their trash into other people's yards." He turned to the Than helmsperson, "Think you can get us there before the big bang, Lieutenant?"

"With time to spare!" Refractions replied before bringing the ship around so that it was pointed right for the center of the temporal gateway, "Everyone better grab onto of something, 'cause here **we GO!**"

The High Guard ship's navigational thrusters fired off at maximum output, increasing the heavy cruiser's speed with every second that passed. It wasn't as great an acceleration as he recalled from the pseudo-memories from his Alexander Hunt personae but, considering what they were hauling, he wasn't surprised. In fact he was thanking whatever god or goddess was keeping the bucky cables from snapping with everything he had because, considering the strain the wires were under, it was a miracle they hadn't broken right off the bat.

"Approaching maximum tensile strain on all cables." Andromeda reported, splitting a screen between the status of the cannon and the strain on the towing cables.

"How long until we reach the anomaly?" he asked as he considered telling the Lieutenant to hold at the present rate of speed.

"At present speed we will reach the temporal gateway in eleven minutes and thirty-two seconds." Andromeda replied after a moment of calculations, "The cannon, however, will detonate in precisely ten minutes."

"Dammit! How much faster can we go before the cables snap?" he asked, not liking how the universe seemed to be conspiring against him.

"We might be able to manage another two or three PSL but anymore than that and we'll lose the cannon." Refractions replied from her station.

"Will that be enough?" he asked the ship hoping against hope that the answer would be yes.

"It'll be close." Andromeda replied sounding unsure of their chances.

"I'll take those odds! Lieutenant, take us up as high as we can go without losing the cannon." He ordered his eyes never leaving the readouts on their situation.

"Aye, sir!" replied Refractions as she inched the controls in her hands a little further forward.

It was nerve-racking to see the stress readings on the cables climb closer to the breaking point at the same time that the build of tachyons approached critical but he did his best to keep his mind focused. Losing his head wouldn't help anyone and, if he was going to get reduced to free floating atoms by the alien weapon, he was going out like a High Guard captain should: with honor and dignity. True, he technically wasn't the captain of the ship but he was in command at the moment while standing in front of Dylan Hunt's usual station so it was close enough for him.

_It'll be close like Andromeda said but I think we're going to make it._ He thought as he mentally tried to estimate how things would turn out.

"Xander! We got new problems! Two of them to be precise!" Buffy yelled before using her console to display the source of her concern.

"It's never easy." He groaned as he saw the magnified image of the remaining two alien ships heading their way.

_**Andromeda Ascendant, Command Deck, Communications Station, Giles' P.O.V**_

_Bugger!_ Giles thought as he considered the variables presented before him.

Xander's moves up until the present were bold, reckless and quite unconventional but had been successful for those very reasons. The aliens had been caught completely off guard and had been given precious little time to counter his tactics. While he would have suggested a bit more caution before detonating so many explosives in close proximity to the weapon, there was no point at crying over spilt milk as the saying went. At the moment their primary concern was figuring out a way to ensure that the remaining two alien ships didn't interfere with the disposal of their weapon. They couldn't turn to face them since it would take every last second they had just to reach their destination in time. That left only one choice if the enemy was to be prevented from advancing any closer then they already had so far. With that objective in mind and the memories of his Halloween personae coming to the forefront, he left the communications station and went to one where a pair of HUD goggles hung as well as a different set of controls.

Slipping the goggles on, he immediately began preparing a group of six RA-26 Shrike slipfighters for immediate launch to be run by remote control.

"G-Man? Something you want to tell us?" Xander asked from the captain's console while only partially looking away from the screen where the situation was displayed for all to see.

"We cannot allow our pursuers to close to striking distance," he replied as he watched one fighter after another come up as ready for battle. "The Andromeda is already damaged and under enough strain trying to tow the cannon back to the temporal anomaly. I will attempt to slow them down and buy us the time we need."

"Can you pilot six slipfighters by yourself?" Buffy asked with concern in her voice.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that." he said icily as the pseudo pride of the High Guard Admiral's remnants rose to defend itself as he launched the slipfighters and focused all his attention on the information his goggles were providing him with. Following the instincts that tugged at his hands and were connected to the remains of who he'd become, he split the six attack craft into two groups of three. Using the propulsion systems to speed them along, he directed one group to the mother ship while the other went to the smaller cruiser-like ship. Armed with such limited weaponry and being about the size of a flea compared to the other ships, one might think him joking by even thinking that they'd do any good. If it was his objective to defeat or destroy the enemy craft they would be right but the truth of the matter was that all he needed to do was distract them and slow them down.

Perhaps a little more after he tested a few theories that he'd made during the course of the battle.

It didn't take long for the three groups to close to striking distance of one another and he found out firsthand that he might have just bitten off a bit more than he could chew. While it had been relatively simple to understand the language displayed on the communications console and operate it in such a way that he would cause problems for the others, this was another matter entirely. Even with the fact that some battle strategies, formations and attack plans could be selected for each fighter then left to run on their own, it still meant he had keep tabs on two separate battles at the same time. Not an easy thing to do, especially for the first time. Fortunately the size of the fighters made it hard for weapons designed for much larger targets to hit them and, since the Shrike's were designed to take on ships much larger than themselves, it gave him the advantage.

Keeping an eye on the overall location of the enemy ships relative to the Andromeda, he could see that while he had some of their attention they were still advancing at the same rate of speed.

_So just buzzing around your heads isn't enough is it?_ He thought as he shifted to a more aggressive plan. _Let us see if we can't do better!_

With that in mind he switched from choosing targets of opportunity to ones that would serve his slightly more ambitious objective: destroying the mechanisms that the enemy ships responsible for deceleration.

It wasn't easy considering the size of the machines he was attempting to destroy but, with a more focused target and a little luck, he was managing. Taking a moment to look at the countdown, he knew he would have to pace his destruction so that by the time that they realized what his intentions were, it would be too late to stop him. Spreading out his attacks on his actual targets while mixing in a few hits that were just weapon emplacements, he waited until the ETA with the temporal anomaly reached the thirty second mark that he abandoned all efforts of disguising his true targets. He bombarded the deceleration engines with his offensive missiles from a distance and, when he was close enough, he switched over to the AP cannon. Letting his hands do most of the work, he looked up to the others to advise them on what they would need to do to avoid bringing serious harm to the Andromeda.

"Lieutenant! When I give the word please perform a ninety degree turn straight up." he said as the seconds ticked by as he spoke.

"G-Man?" Xander asked looking him straight in the eye.

"Trust me."

"Do as he says, Lieutenant." Xander ordered before turning back to the main screen.

Looking down at the timer, he waited, waited ever so seriously, and when the timer hit zero there was only one thing left to say.

"NOW!"

It was then that three things happened.

The first was that the bucky cables that had been placed under such strain during the battle let go of the cannon, sending it spiraling towards the temporal anomaly while the Andromeda Ascendant turned ninety degrees upwards and accelerated away.

The second was that when the remaining two alien ships attempted to decelerate, they found themselves completely unable to do so. As a result they too continued moving along at their previous speed and entered the temporal gateway seconds after the tachyon cannon did disappearing from sight.

Then came the third and most spectacular thing of them all: the cannon exploded on the other side of the gateway, some of its energy spilling through into the open space below the Andromeda's position. It did not stretch far enough to affect Mars, much less far enough to touch the Earth, but he had no doubt that had he not ordered the Than to fly them up to their current position, they would have been destroyed.

"Pretty slick plan, Giles," Xander said, looking quite impressed. "Didn't know you had it in you."

"Neither did I but I am quite pleased it worked out as well as it did." he replied before turning to Joyce. "What is the status on the temporal gateway?"

"Just a minute… it looks like the detonation of the cannon has seriously destabilized the temporal portal." Mrs. Summers replied as she worked the controls of her console. "Sensors are detecting numerous unstable areas all over it and they're growing in strength. I'm no expert in temporal science but I'd say that within the next day or two, it'll be completely gone."

"Great! All our problems gone in one go." Buffy exclaimed, sounding glad that everything had worked out.

Then again it could have been a case of the Slayer side of her and the remaining bits of Elizabeth of Slayer Pride enjoying the feel of victory. Whatever the case, the current crisis was over and they could now return to Earth to deal with the more familiar troubles of demons and magic.

_I never thought I would see the day that I actually looked forward to the usual insanity that the Hellmouth usually inflicts on our little group._

"Take us off battle stations and begin making a list of damaged systems, putting them in order of importance." Xander ordered as the blue lights of battle stations vanished to be replaced by normal lighting. "I'll be in medical seeing how Commander Rhade is doing."

With that he left the command deck and there wasn't a person there that didn't think that Xander had slid into the role of captain quite easily and competently.

What that implied about the young man's future he didn't know but it would almost certainly be remarkable.

_**Not Far From Jupiter, Another P.O.V**_

_Interesting,_ thought the lone occupant of the seemingly organic ship as it finished observing the two elements that had caught its attention.

The ship had maintained its position ever since it first got a good look at the two unforeseen elements and had managed to collect quite a bit of information. However the events of the last hour had been the most intriguing and had been enough to settle a debate that had been occurring within the pilot's head for the last week. The pilot had been interested in finding out whether or not the ship and its crew should be recruited for the war that was quickly approaching.

Well, quickly when you took into consideration the long lifespan of the pilot's race.

The only thing that had caused him to refrain from making contact was whether or not the silver ship would truly be a match for the darkness and its allies. While his scans had revealed technology which would be up to the task, he had been unable to ascertain if the crew of the vessel would be able to match their foes in skill and ability. That was why he had not interfered when the ships had emerged from the temporal anomaly, even though he knew that they were Drakh ships. While there were a few elements of design and technology that had surprised him since it was much more advanced then he'd been expecting from that race he simply presumed that the ships came from the future. As such, he'd made note of the improvements so that he could pass it along to the younger races when they were ready to develop countermeasures against the ally of the darkness. In any case, the crew of the silver ship had performed adequately enough that he now had enough information to make a choice.

He would contact one of his people's agents and use him as an intermediary.


	4. Discoveries, Proposals and Decisions

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material contained herein (BtVS/B5/GRA). They belong to their respective creators and associated companies. I make no profit off of this whatsoever and do not intend to change this EVER. I write because it's fun and because there are those that enjoy reading my work. Therefore I would appreciate it if no one took legal action against me. I can promise you that anything you get from me won't cover even half of your legal fees

_**Two Days Later, Deck Nine, Andromeda Ascendant, Willow's P.O.V**_

"How is that, Andromeda?" Willow asked after she finished her calibrations on the data conduits in front of her.

"Good. It's now operating within acceptable parameters," the hologram of the ship's A.I replied after looking left and right at something only she could see.

"Well… five more on this deck then we can move onto the others," she said more to herself than to the A.I as she put her tools back into the case she'd brought them in.

"I have to say I am impressed that you've been able to repair me so well considering you only have implanted memories to work with." Andromeda stated with genuine respect.

"Well, I've always liked learning new things and a lot of the stuff Mina knew is coming back to me as I work," she stated as she worked her way to the next data conduit that needed her attention. "I'll still need to brush up on a few things to repair the more complex systems but we should have you back up in perfect working order in a couple of days."

When they'd originally volunteered to help with the repairs to the ship, they thought the best that they'd be able to do was patch together some of the less important systems. After all, while Andromeda had repair nanobots to repair the outer hull and a few of the harder to reach areas, the heavy cruiser didn't really have the resources to do a complete repair job. However, after a moderate examination of the damage, they'd found out that it wasn't as serious as they'd originally thought. Indeed, with the maneuverability of the Andromeda mixed with Refraction's piloting skills, there were only one or two spots on the entire ship that would be what one would consider difficult to fix with available resources. Those two spots were, of course, one of the slipstream runners and the doors to the secondary hanger. While repair nanobots were wonderful things, they could only work with material that was readily at hand. They couldn't create new parts out of thin air or repair the hull without the metal it was made out of and, while they had enough in the cargo bays to repair most of the hull, they come up short when they reached those two spots.

Still, when one considered the size of the overall ship and the fact that they'd been in a major battle, they should count themselves lucky to still be around at all.

Commander Rhade had been the only one injured during the whole thing and fortunately it hadn't been anything the medical nanites couldn't sew or grow back together. According to Dawn, who'd become the interim nurse of the ship, he wouldn't be quite ready for duty until sometime tomorrow and if half the complaints coming from the purple person were true, the guy was a terrible patient. Then again, what could you expect from a Nietzschean? That species was so determined to show off how much better they were than all natural humans that they sometimes forgot that they weren't as perfect as they'd like to believe. Still, with Andromeda and Dawn keeping an eye on him, he'd apparently decided that it'd be futile to try and escape the medical bay before he'd been given permission.

The one thing that bothered her was the fact that most of them could only spend a few hours each day aboard the High Guard vessel, since the rest of the time they had to keep up appearances down in Sunnydale. Giles was a Watcher and so he had to keep his job as a high school librarian while at the same time helping Buffy fight the demonic and paranormal on the Hellmouth. Buffy, despite her forearm spikes, still had to go to school or catch holy hell from her mother and then had to do a patrol of the cemeteries at least every second day. She had a bit more freedom since her parents were often away at a seminar or conference but she still had to keep her grades up or they'd get a call, bringing them back to Sunnydale. Still, schoolwork had become downright boring now that she could use her dataport to link with the Andromeda's systems, hack into the internet and literally download everything she needed to know about a specific topic. Giles had tried more than once to impress upon her that downloading information was no substitute for actually learning something the old fashioned way.

He'd stopped as soon as she managed to outmaneuver him in a knowledge contest involving demonology.

In any event, with knowledge literally sliding into her mind in the blink of an eye, it was becoming harder and harder to stay interested in what the teachers were saying. She'd almost gotten caught daydreaming in chemistry class but managed to answer the question posed to her promptly enough that she was the only one who knew the truth.

As for Dawn and Xander, they were pretty much free to do whatever they wanted since their physical appearances were so different that trying to live their lives like nothing was wrong wouldn't work. Neither of them seemed to mind and had been the two people mostly responsible for monitoring and, in some cases, implementing the repairs to the ship. Both Rommie and Rhade had tried to say it wasn't necessary but Xander had insisted saying that it had been his orders that had caused most of the damage, so he was obligated to help with the repairs. Naturally the rest of them stepped forward making it clear they felt likewise but she suspected that they all had their own reasons for spending time aboard the Andromeda Ascendant.

She suspected Dawn's reason was because it allowed her to spend more unsupervised time with Xander.

She'd caught the purple skinned blonde more than once in a pose meant to show off her late teens' female form and had made it her mission to keep such things to a minimum. It wasn't that she was jealous or anything. She was just making sure that the two of them kept certain things in mind like the fact that Dawn's mind and body didn't match up. Sure, the chronologically youngest Summers girl might look like she was seventeen or eighteen years old physically but mentally she was still eleven years old. Then, of course, there was the whole fact that the same could be said for Xander since, while he appeared to be a young man in his mid-twenties, he was mentally still a seventeen year old. Fortunately her best friend seemed to understand the situation well enough that he immediately found a reason to be elsewhere during some of Dawn's more emboldened efforts to ensnare him. While she couldn't say that the only son of Tony and Jessica Harris was completely immune to his teenage impulses, as evidenced by the occasional glances at Rommie's leather clad form, he was showing **some** restraint.

However, despite the physical and fashionable changes she herself had gone through, he still hadn't woken up and seen the hottie she'd turned into. It was especially aggravating because, thanks to a portion of Valentine spunk she'd had poured into her, she was no longer this mousy little girl peeking through the cracks of her little shell. She was now decidedly more outgoing and had upgraded her wardrobe to the point that she had rendered Cordy and her sheep speechless as she walked by. She'd even tried tempting Xander a view times with some veiled comments and innuendo but it'd gone right over his head, proving him to be as oblivious as always when it came to her feelings for him. It was getting to the point where she believed that the only way that she'd ever get him to realize the truth would be to get him into the VR matrix and tweak it so that he'd have direct access to her mind. Then there'd be no way for him to avoid seeing the truth and hopefully abandoning his perpetual image of her being just 'one of the guys', or girls, as the case may be.

The only thing holding her back was the thought of how things could go wrong if she tricked him into a situation like that.

She had to shake her head to clear her mind of the images and scenarios that brought to the surface.

Seeing her next job ahead, she chose instead to focus on the tasks she'd been given and enjoy the fact that she had finally found a place to use her dataport. Smiling, she almost wished that the Andromeda and her crew wouldn't be able to return to their native reality because after having gotten a taste of the tech they had she didn't want to let it go.

It was just too **nifty!**

_**A Bar in Los Angeles, One Day Later, Evening**_

_Man! What a nightmare!_ He thought to himself as he knocked back a shot of the good stuff. _Whatever the higher ups have planned for that bastard Rayne, he deserves it just for the grief he's given me!_

Ever since Halloween, his superiors had been working him like a dog to minimize the damage caused by the chaos mage's spell. More specifically, they wanted him to minimize the potential damage to their plans for the future of the planet Earth. He liked his bosses for the most part, the perks that came with being one of their 'employees' weren't bad, either, but whenever something came along that threatened their plans, he was the one they had running around like a crazy person fixing things. He personally didn't understand why they didn't just go with the flow and modify their plans so that they could still get what they wanted without changing too much. However, as the old saying went, his was not to reason why but to follow their orders until he died… or finally turned in his resignation, whichever came first.

In any case he, along with the others in similar lines of work, were almost done dealing with the fallout of Rayne's chaos spell and just had a few loose ends to tie up. Already all of the junk the nations of the world had floating around the planet had been modified and programmed to pretend the spaceship up there didn't exist. All record on terra firma had either been modified or replaced so that no potentially damaging information was left to reveal the truth. A few memory erasures had to be done as well but that was pretty much par for the course in these kind of situations.

However the bits that were making the most waves were the changes that had been made by Sunnydale Slayer Summers and her friends.

Unlike the others affected by Rayne's spell, the changes they'd gone through had been quite a bit more permanent. The reason that this was causing such a commotion was because the bosses had planned out the next decade quite thoroughly and the blonde Slayer's crew had been important pieces. Not so important that they couldn't be replaced but it'd take a helluva lot of work to rework everything to accept the second choices that had been written down when the plans had been drawn up fifty years ago. Needless to say, his bosses didn't like having their masterpiece of tactical brilliance messed up like that so they'd been grumbling and griping ever since Halloween. He just hoped he wasn't the one who'd get the job of executing their orders to deal with Summers since he was pretty sure he'd need something a bit stronger than what he was drinking at the moment to cope.

"Hello, Christopher," came a voice he hadn't heard in over five hundred years.

Turning around slowly, he gulped with a bit of fear as his eyes settled on the blonde-haired woman dressed in a smart business suite standing less than ten feet away from him. With piercing blue eyes she looked at him with an icy professionalism in them that chilled him to the bone and made him wonder if he should be worried.

"H-hello, Joan. Um… long time no see?" he asked tentatively as he wasn't sure what the wrong thing to say would be.

"Indeed. I believe the last time I saw you was in the presence of the Bishop when he went back on his word to hear my version of the events that transpired," replied the woman as she took a seat next to him in front of the bar.

"Yeah, well… you're still alive, aren't you? That's good! Right?" he asked, trying to figure out the best way to divert blame or escape his present situation.

"Quite. Although I imagine your superiors view me as quite the blemish in their records. I was once their Champion, after all, and instead of being dead as they would no doubt prefer, I am in the employ of others beyond their reach," Joan replied, not showing an inch of emotion. "In fact, it is on their behalf that I have sought you out."

"R-really?!" he asked in surprise as the implications of her statement hit him.

Joan's 'employers' were some pretty heavy hitters in the grand scheme of things and, while not as powerful as his bosses, were still had certain tricks that they could use to their advantage. One of which was the ability to 'recruit' certain humans that caught their eye, regardless of what others might have planned for them. This, of course, never went over well with the beings that gave him his orders but fortunately only happened every couple of decades. He wondered who'd they be spiriting away this time.

"They are aware of the 'incident' that has you and your comrades so upset," Joan stated as she poured a shot glass for herself. "While a pagan god Janus' little pranks are quite amusing..."

_Oh boy! I know where this is going!_ He thought as he immediately determined what could have happened on Halloween to catch **their** attention.

"…my superiors are aware of the spacecraft in orbit of the planet. One of their more prestigious members observed the battle with the ships from the temporal anomaly and the one that was victorious," Joan said between sips from the shot glass. "They have a proposition they would like me to convey to the victors, both those native to this reality as well those that were brought here during Janus' bit of fun."

_I KNEW IT!_ He thought as his suspicions were proven to be true.

It had been an on again off again topic of discussion around the proverbial water cooler that the war between Joan's current keepers and their enemies would be revving up within the next two or three centuries. It was something that had been going on for over ten thousand years, with a couple of centuries of respite spread out in between each series of battles. The higher ups weren't overly concerned with which side won the battle so long as their **plans** were allowed to proceed unhindered or uninterrupted. Not the most selfless or altruistic point of view but what could you expect from a group of high reality beings who were fanatical about their plans and only cared about a single planet? As for him and his buddies, they were secretly pulling for Joan's bosses since they didn't care for the idea of following the practices of those overgrown spectre spiders.

So in his mind, if Joan's friends wanted to recruit the ship, its crew and the self-proclaimed Scoobies, then he had no problem with it. The problem would be whether or not his bosses would have a problem with it. When it came to higher beings and their plans, they were awful stingy when it came to letting go of their chess pieces, even if they'd planned on disposing of them anyway.

Still… it might be worth at least approaching them with Joan's offer.

"Tell me more," he said, setting his mind up to set up the framework for how he'd spin the deal to his bosses.

_**Sunnydale, Sunnydale High School, Library, Two Days Later, Buffy's P.O.V**_

"What do you suppose Giles called us here for?" Willow asked from her position in front of the library's sole computer.

"Dunno. Probably some wiggins worthy portents or something," she replied as she played with a dagger she normally kept stored in her right boot.

While some might have thought that she was bored, she was actually testing her body to see just how much of her Slayer side remained. As the Slayer, twirling the knife around like she was would have only required a fifth of her attention at most. Now, though, she was finding that it took more like half her attention if she went through her entire routine of moves from beginning to end. Considering the fact that her Elizabeth memories had her using just about the same level of focus to do the same thing, she was fairly certain only a pinch of her Slayer essence remained. It might even have successfully left her altogether, in which case she was halfway to her ultimate goal of becoming a normal human being once more. All that was left was for Giles to put together a spell that could reverse Ethan Rayne's and she would have her life back with full control over her future.

"Hopefully it won't be that four armed demon thing and his buddies. Even with some High Guard hardware, it'll be a real bitch to put them down." Xander said as he continued to go through his Force Lance kata with a weapon he'd borrowed from the Andromeda Ascendant.

She had to agree that taking down that group would be difficultt. She might not have fought them herself but, based on the descriptions Xander and Willow had provided afterwards, she knew they'd need a plan to come out of that fight in one piece. A whisper of her Elizabeth side suggested getting a couple of explosives from the Andromeda, burying them in a suitable pattern in one of the cemeteries and then triggering them when the majority of the foes were within range. A tad loud and hard to clean up but it'd get the job done as well as make it impossible for even the most bullheaded regeneration ability to pull them back together.

_Knowing Giles, though, he'd probably prefer that it be kept low key and quiet,_ she thought, revising her plans accordingly. _Difficult but not impossible to pull off._

It was about then that Giles walked out of his office with an odd look on his face. If she had to make a guess, she'd say that he was a cross between concerned and suspicious but she did her best to just keep her bored look on. She'd wait until he spilled the beans about what was wrong before she made any comments or allow her expression to change in the least.

"So what's up, G-Man?" Xander asked as he stopped his exercises and collapsed his Force Lance.

"I've been in conference with the governing body of the Watcher's Council for the better part of a day," Giles replied as he removed his glasses before cleaning them. "Ever since the spell at Halloween I've been… fabricating my reports to the Council in order to conceal the changes we've undergone. The… falsehoods have worked for the most part however it would appear that there has been an ongoing phenomena that they have only just seen fit to inform me of."

With those words the Brit turned to look at her specifically and she could feel in her gut that her little secret was finally about to come out.

"When were you going to tell us that your Slayer abilities were disappearing?" Giles asked her as seriously yet suspiciously as possible.

In a moment of snap judgments and an echo of Nietzschean pride, she decided to be completely honest.

"Never. I was planning on keeping it a secret until they were all gone," she replied without a hint of remorse over her actions.

This, of course, had the expected effect of surprise and some betrayal popping up on the faces of everyone present, aside from herself. However, both her human pride and Elizabeth's refused to allow her to look the least bit guilty.

"Why didn't you tell us?" asked Giles as he spoke for the rest of the group.

"Maybe I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to worry about me," she said as she sheathed her dagger in her boot, standing up. "Maybe I thought I could hold my own against the things that go bump in the night despite my Slayer side fading away. Then again, maybe I just saw a chance for me to get my life back. For the first time since I had this crappy Calling dumped in my lap, I see a way out and I'm taking it."

"B-Buffy… I understand that the lifestyle of the Slayer has been hard on you but you really should have notified me the moment you noticed something was amiss." Giles said, putting his glasses back on.

"So you could do… what? Pull an all-nighter to figure out a way to keep me the Slayer?" she asked with a bit of unintended snippiness. "Ever since we met, you've been going on and on about how I have a sacred duty and how I have to do my job or someone could die. Would you really have sat back, had a cup of tea and let my Slayer-side fade away?"

She could see that her Watcher was taken aback by her sharp words and a part of her did feel regret about lashing out at him like that. Since she'd met him, he'd been nothing but supportive to her and he treated her more like a person than the Slayer. It was just with her fondest wish within eyesight she wasn't about to let anyone take it away from her, whether they were friend or foe.

Seeing Giles walk up to her, she braced herself for a lecture of how she was being selfish or reckless but instead the older man placed two gentle hands on her shoulders.

"Buffy, I will not deny that at times I have placed excessive emphasis on the importance of your Calling. However nothing has ever been more important to me than your safety and your happiness. No longer possessing the Slayer essence would ensure both." Giles said with a look in his eyes that made it clear he meant every word, "Never doubt how much I care about you."

With those words the feelings of defensiveness and hostility left her mind, replaced with a warm feeling of safety and love. She'd never really admit it to anyone out loud but she had come to see the British man as a surrogate father to replace the one that'd abandoned his family for a woman half his age. Given the fact that the man from the land of tweed and scones had been through enough near death experiences to send most sane people screaming away from her, she knew he'd never leave her.

"Not that I'm not liking this heartwarming scene but can we get back on topic?" Xander asked from his position by the library table. "What did the head honchoes back home have to say?"

"They informed me that ever since Halloween, a potential Slayer in Boston has been experiencing a gradual increase in physical abilities and combat prowess," Giles replied, walking away from her. "Since the transfer of the Slayer essence is usually instantaneous and my reports to the Council have not indicated a change in your own abilities, they have been investigating alternative reasons for the strange occurrence. It was not until this morning that they chose to contact me and inquire as the current status of my charge."

"And what did you tell them?" Willow asked looking away from the computer screen.

"I informed them that I would carry out several standard detection spells to determine if there was anything wrong with Buffy and contact them if I found anything." Giles replied with a bit of concern entering his voice. "That should buy us a week at the very least before they begin to suspect something isn't as it should be."

"A week? I'd think they'd start wondering sooner," Xander said, sounding a bit skeptical of the time that Giles had given them.

Giles looked like he was about to say something but the doors to the library opened up to admit two people into the room. One was a man dressed like Brooklyn pimp with a bowler hat on his head while the other was a woman with blue eyes and short cut blonde hair wearing a grey feminine business suit.

Covertly she began to move to a more strategic location just in case the duo chose to pick a fight. Out of the corner of her eye she could see both Xander and Willow doing the same, albeit with a bit more difficulty.

"The reason why the Council ain't gonna ring old Ripper until a week's gone by is because the detection spells he's talkin' about take time to set up," the man said with a strong Brooklyn accent. "In fact a week's bein' optimistic as far as how long it'll take to do them all."

"And who might you and your associate be?" Giles asked with a bit of intimidation in his voice.

"The name's Whistler and blondie here is Joan," replied Whistler with a friendly smile. "We're here to make you an offer."

_**Xander's P.O.V**_

"What kind of offer?" he asked as placed his right hand close to where his Force Lance was holstered.

"I'll let Joan field that one," Whistler replied as he stepped aside to allow the blonde woman to step forward.

"I come on behalf of my employers seeking your aid," Joan said in a professional manner taking in those present. "A great war is on the horizon, a war different from the one you have fought this past year and a half. In this war the forces of light will need all the allies it can find if the darkness is to be cast down once more."

"Care to elaborate on that a bit?" he asked, wondering just how crazy these two people were.

"For the past nine thousand years my employers have been fighting a war against a race of beings you would classify as aliens. At one time they were allies intent on guiding the younger races in the galaxy towards fulfilling their potential," Joan explained, although there was some delay in her words. "However, a little over nine thousand years ago, the current enemies of my employers chose to destroy the alliance for reasons that are currently a mystery. Since then the enemy has tried numerous times to defeat my employers so that they could do as they pleased with the galaxy and its inhabitants. The time is fast approaching when the struggle will resume and if the forces of light are not strong, all will fall into darkness."

"Aliens?! O-kay… Giles better get on the phone and get the people with the white coats here, 'cause this lady's talking crazy." Buffy said, clearly not buying even a bit of what she was being told.

"It would seem that you require proof that what I speak of is true," Joan sighed with a bit of annoyance before putting a hand in the right pocket of her coat. "Perhaps this will convince you."

She withdrew a small disk-shaped object from her pocket, placed it on the floor in front of her and pressed what looked to be a red button in the center of the disk. Like a pocket of space had been released from its confines, what looked like a holographic projection shot out from the disk. It was a bit distorted at first but then it conveyed its contents with a clarity that was at least double what the Andromeda could pull off. The contents, though, were what had the attention of everyone in the room because it showed with amazing accuracy the battle they'd had with the unknown alien force in outer space. The record of the battle continued to play out right up until the temporal cannon detonated on the other side of the gateway before shutting down.

_Well that certainly is a pretty potent piece of proof,_ he thought as he absorbed the evidence he'd just been shown.

While he had initially thought that the disk had been some sort of magical talisman or something but when images of their space battle came up, he realized that the woman could be telling the truth. If the images they'd been shown were of something happening in Sunnydale or someplace on Earth, he'd have discounted it as magic but a space battle was something else entirely. He wasn't a magic expert like Giles was but he was fairly certain that the odds of some demon or sorcerer getting images of the Andromeda like this were pretty slim. Still, the most the evidence did was convince him and most likely the others to give the woman the benefit of a doubt rather than dismiss her claims outright.

"Alright, so maybe you really work for aliens," Buffy said, sounding a little more serious.

"Indeed. However I must point out that my charges and I have certain obligations and responsibilities here on Earth." Giles said deciding to try to take control of the conversation.

"If you're referrin' to your jobs as Watcher an' Slayer, those are pretty much over," Whistler said, re-entering the conversation. "The new Slayer out in Boston already has a Watcher, which means you won't be needed and Summers here is human now… more or less. Pretty much makes you free agents from where I'm standing."

"While it is likely that our responsibilities as Slayer and Watcher are at an end, that does not mean that we are free to take up new ones," Giles stated, not budging from his position in the conversation. "We all have families that would miss us if we were to go missing for an extended period of time and at least Willow, along with Buffy, have school to attend. You cannot expect them to abandon both to aid someone they have known for less than an hour."

"As far as school is concerned, Mr. Giles, my understanding of the educational system of this country implies that all of your charges, save the purple one, are a little over a year from completing the minimum educational requirements for employment. Considering what transpired on Halloween, it is safe to say that they have experienced a stroke of luck in that they have gained the remaining knowledge they required ahead of time. As for their families, I fail to see what the difficulty is. All of Slayer Summers' immediate family have been transformed and are welcome to come with you on this venture. Mr. Harris' family is… unlikely to notice his departure and will likely be pleased to no longer have him drain their financial resources. As for Ms. Rosenberg, I was under the impression that her parents spent the majority of their time elsewhere. I am skeptical that their behavior toward their daughter could even constitute proper parenthood."

_Blunt. __**Very**__ blunt,_ he thought in response to the woman's words.

While he didn't for a moment like how hurtful Joan's statements were both to him as well as the others, he couldn't find fault with the words on a purely factual basis. As far as an education was concerned, he had to admit that all those changed by the spell probably knew enough to be considered university graduates. As for their home situations… neither he nor Willow liked to think about the situations they were forced to deal with at home. He had abusive parents who treated him like shit and Willow's parents only put a token effort into raising her while spending the majority of their time away working on their academic careers. It was the reason why the two of them were so close. When your own family didn't provide you with love and support, you found someplace else to get those essential things. The only difference between the two of them, though, was that his best friend since footie pajamas still clung to the delusion that her parents loved her and that she loved them, a delusion that he had long since tossed out the window, like with Santa Claus and developing an interest in school.

Looking over at the redhead, he could see some pain in her eyes but not as much as he'd been expecting. Probably the result of the lingering Valentine mindset that he'd seen signs of every once and awhile since Halloween. Still, the pain was there and he never liked it when his best friend was in pain, so he decided to go on the offensive in a way that would bolster the strength Willow had gained from the remnants of the hacker and thief.

"You've made a good case for yourself, Ma'am, but you've yet to explain one thing: what's in it for us?" he asked, keeping a straight face. "I mean, saving the galaxy from bad guys is all well and good but my friends on board the Andromeda will need something… more."

"My employers thought you might say something along those lines," Joan said as she placed the disk back into her pocket. "For your allies in orbit, my employers are willing to devote resources to finding a way to send them home."

"You could open a dimensional doorway that could take them back to their reality?" Giles asked, sounding somewhat dumbfounded.

"My employers are a long lived and ancient people, Mr. Giles," Joan replied with confidence as she crossed her arms over her chest. "You will find that there is very little that they cannot do with enough time and resources."

This was something of a shock but a welcome one.

It had been one of the most daunting dilemmas they'd been saddled with since Halloween, getting Rhade and the Andromeda back to where they belonged, and he could tell that no one thought they'd really be able to pull it off. Even at the height of the Systems Commonwealth, opening dimensional gateways and travelling to a specific dimension was something purely theoretical. According to Giles, pulling off the same thing with magic was almost impossible even with large numbers of practitioners and difficult even if they managed to persuade a god or goddess to lend their aid. He'd inquired as to why Rayne and Janus had been able to pull it off, to which the Brit had simply used the 'chaos magic is unpredictable' excuse rather than provide an actual reason. To think that this woman's employers were both capable and willing to send the displaced crew of the Andromeda back to their native reality was something of a godsend.

Naturally the remaining bits and pieces of Alexander Hunt immediately became suspicious and warned him not to trust this woman, or at the very least come up with a few back up plans just in case things went south.

"We will have to discuss the matter with those aboard the Andromeda and take some time to properly evaluate your proposal." Giles said regaining some of his composure.

"Of course. I will return in two standard Earth days to hear your response," Joan stated before giving her associate Whistler a look and then walked out of the library.

The man that had accompanied her turned to leave as well but, before that happened, a question needed to be asked. "Before you go, Whistler, there's just one question I'd like you to answer. Joan was here to make us an offer. Why did you tag along?"

"Let's just say that my bosses are the Slayer's bosses," Whistler replied with a cryptic smile. "They wanted representation here when Joan made her deal. See ya!" With those words he seemed to shimmer out of view like one of those cloaking effects on sci-fi shows.

No one said anything but that could have had something to do with the fact that they'd just been in the presence of a representative of the ones that sent Buffy her Slayer dreams.

_**The Andromeda Ascendant, Two Hours Later, Command Deck, Rhade's P.O.V**_

"Do you think the offer is genuine?" Rhade asked after Rupert Giles briefed the crew on the two beings who'd visited them in the high school library.

"Maybe," Xander replied as he leaned against one of the railings on the bridge. "The hologram technology Joan had was pretty hi-tech and Whistler's vanishing act was pretty impressive, too. All in all I think they're who they claim to be but whether or not they can make good on their side of the deal… I don't know. Fancy holograms are a long way from punching a hole between dimensions."

True.

However the possibility of a scientific way home interested him greatly and he had more confidence in it then the… mystical one that Mr. Giles had been researching since they'd met. Science he at least had a respectable understanding of and had seen in action often enough to know he could rely on it. Magic, on the other hand, had been nothing more than fantastic nonsense for children and fools until he'd come to this dimension to witness it firsthand. Yet even with the evidence all around him, he couldn't bring himself to rely on it. The only problem with pursuing the more scientific method was that he didn't have a great deal of information on his potential employer. Based on what Harris had told them, the woman Joan claimed that her employers belonged to a race that reminded him of the Vedrans in terms of their power and how ancient they were. If that was indeed the case, it was entirely plausible that they possessed the ability to open a portal that could take the Andromeda back to their native reality.

The question he needed to answer was whether or not these 'employers' would hold up their end of the bargain if he and the Andromeda held up their end.

The fact that they were being approached at all meant that at the very least that these mysterious employers thought they had tactical value. However the fact that they sent a human emissary to make the offer implied that, while valuable enough to make an offer to, they were not important enough to meet with face to face. In his mind that meant that Joan's superiors would only hold to the deal so long as the Andromeda Ascendant was of sufficient value to warrant it. If something equal or greater to the ship were to show itself and require less resources in order to ensure its obedience, he had no doubt these employers would go back on their word. Logically that meant that they would either have to lower their reward request for their aid or increase their value so as to make themselves as close to indispensable as possible.

"Still, it's an option worth considering," he said as his mind began running through the possible scenarios.

"Any sign of a spectator during the fight?" Xander asked as he approached one of the consoles.

"Nothing within range of the sensor drones but most of my attention was on the attacking ships." Andromeda said from the main screen of the command deck. "If their observer was far enough away, I would have missed them completely."

"So their ship would be advanced enough to get high quality images of our fight but either stealth rigged or far enough away that we couldn't detect them," Harris said as he sifted through the sensor records. "Certainly adds credibility to them having some advanced tech. Makes me think that maybe the rest of what the pretty lady said might be true, too."

"Perhaps, however I would feel more comfortable if I knew more about this 'enemy' they want us to fight." Mr. Giles stated with an undercurrent of caution.

"As would I," he said, albeit for different reasons.

Since he had no intention of lowering the price for the Andromeda's assistance, then he would need to maximize their collective value and in order to do that he needed more information. How large was the enemy force? What sort of weapons did they possess? What was the size and layout of their territory? These were the things he would need to know in order to accurately judge where he and the others stood as well as what sort of options were open to them for improving their status in this 'force of light'.

"They probably won't tell us what we want to know until we've agreed to their deal and are too far in to back out." Buffy stated with a tone he found almost Nietzschean in nature.

It was something he'd noticed whenever the young woman came on board the Andromeda. When on the planet's surface she acted like one would expect from a normal, unmodified human, but when she came aboard the ship her behavior changed in minor yet telling ways. Despite her occasional dismissal of official Nietzschean customs and beliefs, there were times when he could almost see her as being one of his people. Those times never lasted very long but they were there. One might say that she was a Nietzschean raised as an unmodified human by unmodified humans but with her true nature beginning to rise to the surface.

He privately admitted that he'd like to see just how close to the surface it would come before it stopped.

"Then it would be in our best interests to think this through thoroughly in the time we have left," he stated, getting the attention of everyone present. "Once we make our choice, there will be no going back."

Looking at the faces of those in the room, he tried to predict which choice they would each make.

Rommie, ever the warship, would likely choose to agree to the deal both because it held a higher probability of her getting home than relying on something intangible like magic and because her nature wouldn't let her turn away from a fight.

Refractions of Dawn was a little harder to get a read on, given her insectoid form, but he believed that she would likely go where Andromeda went. It wasn't like she could blend in with the people of Earth all that easily.

As for their allies from Earth, Mr. Giles obviously placed the well-being of his young charges above any of his personal interests. He would likely weigh the losses they would incur agreeing to the proposal against the potential gains but, above all else, their safety would be on his mind.

Buffy, or Elizabeth as he sometimes called her in his mind, could go either way. She struck him as the sort of woman who didn't like to give away control, especially when it concerned her own life. It was an admirable quality and one that was somewhat Nietzschean from his point of view. In all likelihood, she would agree to the proposal if the majority of her friends did.

Xander was easier to read both because the young man tended to wear his emotions on his sleeve and because certain mannerisms he exhibited were eerily similar to Dylan's habits. He was loyal to his friends but would do the right thing, even if it meant going up against them. Throughout the debriefing he could see signs of Harris working his way through the various scenarios, as well as making a list inside his mind. He put his pseudo-XO in the agree column as far as the proposal went.

Ms. Rosenberg, by all accounts, was quite happy with having access to the ship and the majority of the technology on board. Rommie had even commented once that, while not quite the engineer that Seamus Harper was, the redhead had proved more than adequate in repairing the systems damaged by the battle. The main obstacle to her agreeing to the proposal would likely be her family, since the young woman seemed reluctant to leave them behind. It was even odds as to which choice she would make once the deadline arrived.

Mrs. Summers and her daughter Dawn would likely side with the majority as well, both out of loyalty as well as a desire to retain the bonds they had with those who chose to leave. The child's form, much like Refractions of Dawn, would be nearly possible to disguise making blending in a pipe dream at best. However he had a suspicion that they might choose to agree to the proposal for just this reason. A purple-skinned form might stand out on present day Earth but, among alien races, she'd likely be just one more face among many.

"Then I guess we'll see each other in two days." Xander said before leaving the command deck.

_**The Rosenberg Home, The Next Day, Late Morning, Willow's P.O.V**_

To stay with her parents and be separated from her friends or to join with her friends and possibly never see her parents again.

That was the choice that stood before her at the moment and, truth be told, she wasn't sure what to do. Joan's words yesterday hurt but she had a hard time defending her parents' behavior as far as raising her went. They were gone the majority of the time, only returning for holidays and the occasional birthday, leaving only her friends and Jesse's parents to raise her. She remembered her early years and how she'd promised to be a big girl for her parents while they were away. Playing with Xander and Jesse took up most of her free time, with school keeping her busy the remainder of the time. As she got older, it became less about being a 'good girl' and more about making her parents proud of her by doing good at school and taking care of things at home while they were away. When she became a teenager, though, the excuses became increasingly transparent but the little girl inside of her that craved the love of her parents compelled her to overlook all facts that were inconvenient.

Now… now she was no longer quite so susceptible to her inner child's pleas and she could thank one Wilhelmina Valentine for that.

The thief was many things but stupid wasn't one of them.

When dealing with the sort of people she did on an almost weekly basis, the younger cousin of Becka Valentine learned it was absolutely essential to separate fact from fiction. Not only did this mean intel gathering but also spotting the various tells that people unconsciously showed when they lied or were up to no good. People who hired other people to steal generally weren't on the up and up. They often tried to double their payday by shooting their hired help once they got what they wanted and so Mina made sure that she had an ace or two up her sleeve. After ten years of that, the Valentine girl cut through lies and delusions like a nano-welder through warm flesh. While she might no longer have been the professional thief, mentally there was enough of still rattling around inside her head to drown out the child and forced her to see the truth, no matter how painful it was to accept.

It wasn't something she liked to focus on and kept trying to use the specifics of Joan's proposition as a distraction but that only made it worse. It was like following a trail of breadcrumbs that kept leading you back to the place you were trying to get away from in the first place. The cold hard reality repeatedly smacked her in the face every time she tried to get away from it and she was tired of getting hit with something so painful. However, since ignoring it wasn't resolving the situation, then it was time to go in the opposite direction and try completely accepting it.

Her mother and father were terrible parents who valued their careers more than they did her.

In the face of such a statement, she found her reasons for rejecting the proposal given by Joan being substantially fewer then there had been when it had first been given. Education wasn't an issue with her data port allowing her to assimilate vast amounts of date in a tenth of the time it'd take to learn it all the old fashioned way. Add that to the things she'd inherited from her Halloween personae and she could probably teach at any university on the planet or create a company bigger than Apple. Friends weren't going to keep her here since all of the ones that mattered would be coming with her when they accepted the proposal.

At least she thought they'd accept.

She knew for Xander going into space on a grand adventure like this would be too much for him to resist. The only way he'd even think about turning it down would be if the rest of them refused the offer and chose to stay on Earth. Loyalty might as well be his middle name instead of LaVelle.

Giles, Buffy, Joyce and Dawn would pretty much be a group package as far as she could tell. Giles' bond with Buffy as her former Watcher would pull him wherever she went and the ex-Slayer would draw her family in causing them to go wherever she went. The real question was would Buffy want to leave Earth for the stars?

While a part of her wanted to believe that Buffy would be just like her and Xander when presented with the adventure of a lifetime, she knew all too well that the blonde disliked things that took her away from her much sought after 'normal life'. She'd made that clear yesterday when she revealed that she'd been keeping her waning Slayer abilities a secret from them. To the eldest Summers daughter, nothing was more important than regaining that which fate had cruelly took from her: a chance at a full life and maybe her fair share of happiness. Would she walk away from something that would take her farther away from that ideal future that she wanted? Or would she finally let go of her obsession and try to see the opportunities that lay before her? It was something too close to call and not something that the Valentine in her was willing to put any money on without figuring out a way to rig the results.

_Now __**there's**__ an idea._ She thought of with a slight smile as her brain began to work through the possibilities.

While before Halloween she might have felt reluctant to manipulate her friends, even if it was for their own good. Now… now with the piece of Wilhelmina Valentine in her head she was beginning to believe that a little bit of evil now for a lot of good later was perfectly acceptable. The question then became how precisely would she tilt the odds in favor of Buffy accepting this new life rather than going after her old one.

She smiled at the challenge being presented before her.

_**The Andromeda Ascendant, That Evening, Rommie's P.O.V**_

"Just stick to the plan and everything will work out fine." She muttered to herself as she straightened her uniform.

"You're worried over nothing," her hologram self after it had digitized into existence said. "High Guard protocol is in your favor and all the necessary criteria have been met."

"Do you really think he's going to take what I have to say well?" she asked her holographic self with a bit of her anxiety slipping through in the form of snippiness. "We'll be all but calling him inferior and that's not going to go over well."

"If he's serious about his intentions to regain our trust, he'll concede that you have a point and step aside." Andromeda stated with impartial professionalism.

"Let's hope you're right," she said before using her connection with the ship to open the doors to the command deck.

Walking, she found Rhade almost immediately at the Captain's console and, with deliberate steps, she approached him, preparing to enter into a sort of combat with him. She had been considering this ever since she'd calculated the likelihood of gaining new crew members in this strange new reality she'd found herself in. However it had taken seeing them in action before she moved beyond simple speculation and into something a little more serious.

Now was the time for her to take what she had learned and put it into effect.

With the mysterious 'Joan' returning tomorrow to hear their answer, it was important to have everything in order.

"Commander? May I have a word with you?" she asked in a serious but professional way.

"Of course. What's on your mind?" Rhade asked, turning away from the console so he could give her his full attention.

"I was wondering what sort of changes would need to be made in terms of official ranks should Mr. Giles and his friends choose to agree to the proposal. While we were able to assign them temporary stations prior to the battle with the unknown aliens, they'll need more clearly defined duties as well as an established chain of command if we're going to war."

"I take it you think some of them would be suited for different positions?" he asked with some curiosity as he himself began to think the matter over.

"Buffy acquitted herself well at fire control but I get the feeling she might do better in control of a slipfighter," she said, being honest with her appraisal. "Whether it's by remote control or from the cockpit, I think she'd do well there."

Nodding the man asked, "Any other suggestions?"

"Dawn seems to have inherited Trance's talent in the medical bay and, given where she'll be heading, it might be best to have her focus her efforts there," she said, recalling how the young woman had tended to the Commander's wounds. "While Trance did many things as a member of the crew, a lot of them are going to be unnecessary where we're going. We will need a fully certified doctor."

"Assuming she chooses to join us, she'll need tutoring to reach the standards that every High Guard doctor works by." Rhade said agreeing with her second recommendation, "I expect you will be the one to handle that part since you'll be able to access the necessary information quicker."

"Agreed," she said, already having decided to help the purple girl fill her position better.

_So far so good._ She thought as her plan had progressed nicely with no real deviations, _Now to spring the big one on him._

"Then there's Xander Harris. I've reviewed the battle data and I've been testing him since then as well," she said, making sure there were no suspicious inflections in her voice. "While he hasn't gone through the Academy and doesn't have any genuine experience, he managed to get a score of eighty-five percent."

"Impressive," he said with genuine respect in his voice. "I can see that I made the right choice assigning him to the position of executive officer."

"Right, but I think he might need to be more than that." She knew that no matter how she phrased it, the Nietzschean now knew what she had planned, so she just went on with it. "I think he might have what it takes to be Captain."

Rhade's face immediately became as emotional as the hull of the Andromeda Ascendant and she knew she had to get her points in before he started to make his.

"When we arrived in this reality, the Lieutenant and I allowed you to resume your responsibilities because we needed every pair of hands we could get and the only alternative to you betrayed this ship a lot more than you did," she said, putting some steel into her voice to make it clear she was going to say what she needed to say, "Now I have another candidate to choose from and he passed the only two tests High Guard protocol requires in situations like this: one test on the battlefield and one off. The battle with the aliens was the former and the questions I asked him while he was doing repairs counts as the other. Assuming that he accepts the position, it'll be up to him to decide what your duties will be but, based on what I've learned about him since we met, it's possible you'll become the new second in command."

_There! I've laid it all out for him._

"I'm sure he'll agree to take the position." Rhade stated without anything on his face to indicate he was upset.

To say that she was surprised would be putting things lightly.

She literally had databases full of information on Nietzschean psychology and culture. Everything she'd accessed on either subject had suggested that removing Rhade from the position of highest ranked officer and replacing him with someone who had no more experience than an Academy graduate would seriously upset the former commander. The action would imply the man was inferior in so many ways and that was not something any Nietzschean would just tolerate. Therefore his reaction did not make any sense at all.

"You're taking my suggestion… well."

"Is there a reason I shouldn't be?" he asked rhetorically before looking in her direction once more, "I knew when I chose to aid my people in the rebellion against the Commonwealth that there'd be consequences one way or the other. Either I would succeed and be branded a traitor by every loyal High Guard officer fighting for the Commonwealth or I'd die. I was prepared for both outcomes.

"However, when I awoke here, in this reality, alive, I must admit I was uncertain of what my fate would be. When you allowed me to resume my duties as executive officer, I knew that you did so out of necessity rather than desire." Gaheris looked a little introspective for a moment, "Now that you could potentially have six more crew members coming on board, it's only logical that you would select one of them to be your new captain. Given how he performed against the aliens, Alexander is the logical choice for the position."

His explanation did clarify a few things but there were still some niggling details left unanswered or unexplained. Instead of choosing to press the man for answers, she chose to accept his statement and let things go. She'd still work with the different parts of herself to keep an eye on him to make sure he didn't try to 'promote' himself unethically but that would be all she'd do. With her mind thinking of keeping an eye on someone, she considered the other variable they'd have to make a decision on before they got too embroiled in the war they'd be fighting, the man who was currently detained in the brig and, if she had any say in it, wouldn't be tasting freedom anytime soon.

_**The Command Deck of the Andromeda Ascendant, The Next Day, Xander's P.O.V**_

"So it's unanimous?" Xander asked as he looked about at those assembled around him.

"Yep. We're all on board and ready to go." Willow said with a happy smile at the fact that no one would be staying behind.

Nods affirmed this all around, although Buffy's was somewhat half-hearted. He had a feeling this was because of a certain Deadboy she'd be leaving behind and hoped that it didn't linger too long. Still, it was better than her whining and complaining because she was leaving behind her 'soul mate' but then he'd figured this might happen since the Halloween spell came to an end. While not much had been said, he knew that everyone had been forced to accept certain personality traits and thought patterns of their costume's personae. He had become more militaristic in how he'd behaved and looked at situations from a strategic point of view. Giles had become more of a teacher and experienced veteran than a British librarian. Buffy's changes were better hidden but she was definitely acting more like her Uber than her usual self, especially when she got angry. Naturally the Nietzschean mindset did not allow for pointless and potentially self-destructive tendencies like dating a walking corpse. The only reason the former Slayer was feeling bad at the moment was probably because of her lingering teenage thoughts that were still hooked on the whole 'Romeo & Juliet' fantasy with Angel.

_Hopefully some time away from him will help her get her head together._ He thought as he decided it was time to move on.

"Alright, now that we've decided we're all going, all we have to do is wait for Joan to show up," he said with a half-smile at the adventure that was all set to begin.

"A ship of unknown configuration is approaching at ten PSL," Announced the Andromeda, bringing up an image of a small ship that looked a little bigger than the Eureka Maru.

"Talk about timing," he said offhand as he moved to a console and opened a communications channel. "This is Xander Hunt of the Andromeda Ascendant to unknown vessel. Please identify yourself."

When a connection was successfully made, the face of Joan appeared on the main view screen, still dressed in the business suit she'd had on in the library.

"You can relax, Mr. Harris. It's just me." Joan said professionally before rolling her eyes at something off screen, "Have you and your comrades come to a decision regarding my employer's proposal?"

"Yes, we have. We agree to your employer's proposal," he declared, unconsciously taking on the leader's role of speaking for the crew. "When the war begins, you can count on us."

"Excellent! I had a feeling that would be your decision but one never knows." Joan was now smiling for the first time, "Now if you will allow me to come aboard, we begin preparations."

"Of course. Andromeda? Open up hanger bay four and have an android escort her to the command deck," he asked the ship's A.I before turning back to the woman on the screen. "See you in a few minutes, Joan."

"I will see you shortly then." Joan said before the comm channel was severed.

Turning around, he was a little puzzled to see playful smiles on both Buffy's face as well as Willow's with the rest of the group giving him some sort of look he couldn't quite label.

"What?" he asked while running through what had happened today that could have caused this.

"Nothing." Willow and Buffy replied in perfect sync with each other but that just made him worry more.

Looking around for someone to explain what the hell was going on, he couldn't find any volunteers before Rommie stepped forward from the crowd and approached him.

"We just think that you're settling into your new job nicely," she replied as she took something small from her back pocket.

_Job? What does she-?_ He thought as he worked his brain cells to figure out what she meant.

Before he could get very far in his thought processes, the ship made flesh reached towards his shirt collar with both hands and attached something to it. As soon as she withdrew a couple of steps, he pulled at the collar and looked down to see what she'd put on his shirt. What he found there left him speechless.

A High Guard rank pin. More specifically it was the pin normally worn by the Captain of a starship.

"Wha-?" was all he could get out since his mind was still processing the shock.

"I've been talking with Rhade about how we'd need to assign official ranks and positions to you and your friends should all of you choose to become members of the crew," she explained with a smile that implied she thought all was right with the universe. "One of the first ranks we discussed was who would officially be named Captain. We chose you."

"Me?! But I thought Rhade… I mean, he's the senior officer and…" he managed to stutter out in surprise as his mind was still a little shaky.

"While I may have been executive officer under Dylan, my… role in the Nietzschean rebellion negates any chance of being made captain in his absence," Rhade explained, looking… regretful, perhaps, concerning his past. "After how you handled the situation with the alien ships, Rommie and I concluded you'd be well suited to the assignment."

"I… I don't know what to say." He stated realizing what stood before him.

"Say you'll take the job. Otherwise we'll have to draw straws for it." Willow said with an encouraging look on her face.

Captain. Did he really want that job? That responsibility?

Sure, it was a shiny title but with it came all sorts of baggage and he wasn't sure if he was up to the job of handling it. With only Halloween memories and that one time in command during the battle with the vessels from the temporal gateway, he didn't think he was even half as good as a full-fledged High Guard captain.

Still… they wouldn't have chosen him for this role if they didn't think that he could do it and, with a starship avatar and decorated former executive officer being behind the offer, maybe he should have a little faith in their judgment.

"Then I accept."

"Good, because out guest is just outside command waiting to be let in." stated the Andromeda from the main view screen.

"Let her in then. The sooner we hear the details, the sooner we can get underway."

With that the door opened up to reveal Joan, who promptly began to stride forward the moment she was able to while at the same time making a visual survey of the command deck. He doubted she'd get anything meaningful from looking about since everything was displayed use the numbers and letters of the Systems Commonwealth, but he'd still be mindful of her while she was on board.

For now, though, it was time to assume his new duties starting with welcoming a visitor to the ship. "Welcome aboard the Andromeda Ascendant, Joan."

"Thank you, Captain. Now that we are all gathered here, I believe it would be best to leave for our destination." Joan said after giving his hand a firm shake.

"Where would that be?" he asked with some curiosity. While he was concerned that some of the others had yet to get their affairs in order, none of the Scoobie were voicing any complaints, so he presumed that they had no loose ends they still needed to tie up. He'd tied up his loose ends within twenty-four hours of the offer being made by selling off what he wouldn't miss while preparing to carry on board the things he wanted to keep. They were still waiting for him in the hanger bay but he'd get to them after the official business was taken care of.

"An isolated system on the edge of my employer's domain. With the war that is coming, it was thought best that knowledge of your presence be kept to a minimum until the time is right," Joan replied as she pulled what looked like another holo-disc out of her pocket. "I've brought all the information you will need to get there in this."

She placed the disc on the floor and within seconds images of a solar system, that solar systems location in the overall galaxy and other visual information cycled before their very eyes. "While my employers are not entirely familiar with your preferred method of long distance travel, they thought this information would help you in getting there."

"Lieutenant? Think you can get us there?" he asked Refractions of Dawn who was taking in the info along with the rest of them.

"Consider us already there!" replied the Than as she slid into her piloting chair.

It didn't take long at 20 PSL to reach the slip point for Earth's solar system and, with a quick countdown from the lieutenant, they entered slipstream. When that happened, he felt himself letting go of a metaphorical breath he'd been holding since the idea of leaving the solar system first entered his mind. It had been a big question in his mind whether or not it'd even be possible and how safe it would be. After all, this wasn't the original reality that the ship was from and it was feasible that the laws of physics that allowed it to work in the Andromeda universe wouldn't allow it to work here.

_Still, since we're all still alive and there are no alarms going off, I'm going to assume that slipstream is perfectly safe,_ he thought as he watched the view screen as the quantum chords streaked by at fantastic speeds.

The transition had been a bit disorienting but he figured he'd get used to it as time went on until he wouldn't even notice it at all.

It was only ten minutes before they exited slipstream but he wasn't all that surprised. With the right pilot at the controls, a trip could take anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of days. Sure, the farther away the place was, the longer it would take, but since the Andromeda Ascendant usually travelled between galaxies on the show and they were going to be sticking to their own, travel time wouldn't be a problem.

What might be was the giant sphere-like array that was right in front of the ship and getting closer by the second.

"What is that?" he asked as he tried to find something similar in Halloween personae's memories.

"Unknown but sensor drones are picking up numerous emitters along the inside of each ring," replied Andromeda from the left hand view screen.

"It's a temporal stasis array and where you will be staying for the next century or three," Joan explained without any emotion that he could pick up on.

"WHAT?!" exclaimed just about everyone in the room.

"Did I forget to mention that the war is not anticipated to begin for two and a half centuries at the earliest?" she asked with mock regret before an amused smile graced her lips. "Must be my old age finally catching up with me."

_**Giles' POV**_

"Two and a half **centuries**? At LEAST!?" Buffy asked in shock and he could not help but feel similar shock since this was a detail neither he nor anyone else had been informed of previously.

"Understand that my employers have exceedingly long lifespans," Joan stated, sounding like she was ready to lay the last of her cards on the proverbial table. "To them, two and a half centuries may as well be two and a half DAYS. However they realize that time passes differently for a species such as ours that, at best, can last a century before succumbing to old age. Therefore in order to ensure that you all arrive at the estimated beginning of the war, you will be placed into temporal stasis."

"Like I didn't get enough of that the first time around," Rommie muttered too low for anyone not within a few feet of her to hear.

"Who exactly are your employers?" Xander asked, taking to his new role by making a valid inquiry.

"The name of their species in their native language would be impossible for you to pronounce for anatomical reasons but many of the other sentient space faring species refer to them as the Vorlons." Joan turned to the newly assigned captain of the Andromeda Ascendant. "They've been around for millions of years. When mankind was first learning how useful a wooden club could be, they had already evolved into something beyond anything you know."

"Into what, exactly?" Willow asked, sounding like her natural curiosity was being roused.

"I'm afraid I cannot go into detail as far as that's concerned as the Vorlons value their privacy a great deal," Joan replied with a tone that made it clear that she wouldn't say much more on the topic. "The most I can tell you is that they no longer require food or drink like you would."

That had several implications, not all of which he liked.

The first was the fact that if these Vorlons were so secretive about themselves and what the other races knew about them, trust would definitely be an issue. It was sort of hard to trust a race that didn't trust you or at the very least looked down on you because you were still painting cave walls when they'd mastered faster than light space travel. Another issue it raised was that if these people didn't require sustenance similar to other races, then what precisely did they feed upon to keep themselves alive. There wasn't a living thing in the universe that didn't require **something** to keep themselves alive or provide them with enough energy to carry out their daily tasks. While there were perfectly acceptable sources of food, there were other sources that he knew from his books that would make the Vorlons as bad as any demons. However he had too little information to work with to come up with any sort of conclusion or idea concerning the nature of their benefactors.

For a few moments it looked as though Joan was listening to a voice that only she could hear before she turned her attention back to the people arrayed out before her. "I have just received telepathic information from those preparing the temporal stasis array. They say it will be ready to activate in precisely sixty-seven minutes. I suggest you make whatever preparations you need to before then. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must take my leave."

"What? You're leaving now?" Buffy asked, clearly not expecting the woman to leave until much later.

"Yes," Joan replied as she began walking to the exit/entrance of the command deck. "My assignment was only to extend the offer to you and then escort you here. As of now, my assignment is over and I must leave to pursue my next one."

"Which is?" Rhade asked with a mix of suspicion and genuine curiosity.

"Which is none of your business, Commander Rhade." Joan said coldly, making it clear that she would not oblige him.

Silenced reigned in the command center of the ship for a few minutes as all of them no doubt felt a little… annoyed at how the woman had just brushed them off. While a bit put out himself, he knew it would be a waste of time to dwell on such things and therefore he decided to move things along to a more productive use of their time.

"Well, I believe it would be prudent to run a final check on all critical systems and do what we can in order to minimize any possible negative effects this… temporal stasis array might have on the ship."

"Your right," Xander said as he moved over to his station. "Willow, you and Rommie check life support and the slipstream core. Buffy and Rhade, I want you to check the weapon systems and the internal security system. Dawn, you and your mother check medical."

"And what will you be doing?" Buffy asked, not entirely approving of the captain not having tasks of his own to do.

"Coordinating everything, of course," Xander replied with a slightly smug look on his face tinged with a bit of humor in his eyes.

"There is something a bit more… important that you should deal with before we enter temporal stasis, Captain." Rommie said, sounding a little uncomfortable.

"Like what, Rommie?" Xander asked, sounding like he didn't have a clue what she was talking about.

"When we were brought here to this reality, there was one more… arrival. He showed up on the command deck unconscious but, as soon as we realized who he was, we immediately place him in the brig." Rommie replied, trying to remain as professional as she could. "If we're going into a war, it'd be prudent to deal with him first."

"If he's dangerous enough to be put into the brig then you're right. We can't have a potential enemy on board during a war," Xander agreed before deciding to get to the heart of the matter. "So who is this prisoner exactly?"

"Tyr Anasazi of the Kodiak pride." Rommie replied with the utmost seriousness.

Of the people in the room, only Xander, Rommie, Rhade and Refractions of Dawn seemed to know who this was and, judging from the expressions on their faces, this Tyr person was not well liked. In fact, unless he was very much mistaken, they likely felt about as much love towards the Nietzschean as he himself felt towards Ethan Rayne.

"I see," Xander said in a tone usually reserved for when Angel did something to piss him off. "I suppose you have suggestions on what I should do with him?"

"Commander Rhade believes we should simply jettison him into space. Eliminate the threat he represents permanently." Rommie replied, showing that she was against the idea with her tone. "Lt. Refractions of Dawn and myself believe he should be deposited on the nearest planet capable of supporting humanoid life. However, as the Captain, it's your call to make in the end."

Silence reigned on the command deck for several minutes as a mixture of emotions crossed the face of one Alexander Hunt before he seemed to reach a decision on the matter.

"I'll deal with him. The rest of you see to your assigned duties." Xander said before striding purposefully out of the room.

He could see that the others, much like he himself, were debating the choice to go after the young man so that he did not do anything rash when he confronted Mr. Anasazi. However he knew that while they might have all elected him to be captain of the Andromeda Ascendant, it was important not to undermine his position this early into his assignment.

"Right, then. I will assume Xander's role of coordinating the preparations until his business in the brig has been concluded, after which I will inspect the slipfighters to ensure their readiness."

With his taking the lead the rest went about their assigned tasks with the intention of having them all completed by the time their two and a half century 'slumber' was ready to begin. None of them knew what the future held or what sort of future they'd find themselves in, but he chose to be optimistic in such things. The human race, while possessing many flaws, also had great potential if it could only overcome its various shortcomings. In time perhaps they would reach their full potential but if not… well, he'd rather not think of such things.

He had a hard enough time coping with the fact that he would soon pass the point of no return, leaving all he'd ever known behind for good.


	5. New Set of Circumstances and Assignments

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material contained herein. They are the rightful property of their respective creators and associated companies. I make no money off of this fanfic whatsoever and have no intention of changing this in my lifetime. I write this because it's fun and because there are those who enjoy reading my work. Therefore I would greatly appreciate it if anyone thinking of filing a lawsuit against me would refrain from doing so. I can promise you that any money you got from me wouldn't even cover half of your legal fees.

_**The Entrance to the Brig, Xander's POV**_

_Stay cool! Keep it together,_ he thought to himself as he tried to separate Xander Harris the transformed human from Alexander Hunt, opponent of all Nietzscheans. _Just because they look the same and have the same name doesn't mean this guy is a back stabbing sonuvaBITCH like the one on the show._

He knew the episodes of the show and how they went but he also knew that one of the reasons the character went in the direction he did halfway through season three was because the actor had become dissatisfied with how his role was developing. Naturally this meant that the writers behind the show who probably had intended for the guy to stay around longer had to cut some corners and adjust things to accommodate for the actor's absence. He'd always believed that this was the reason for the character's turn from a reliable member of the crew to a villain before finally being killed off. When you added that with the inconsistencies he'd managed to find when casually inquiring with Rommie about events in the show and the possibility existed that the man he was about to meet was different from the TV show character.

At the same time, though, the man could actually be worse.

_Enough stalling, _he thought as he cemented his resolve. _Just meet the guy, get a feel for him and make a decision. A captain's gotta be decisive._

Taking a single deep breath he pressed the button to the right of the door and entered the brig. Mentally he reviewed everything he could remember about Tyr in terms of what type of man he was and how he handled people he didn't know. He knew that Tyr would likely stay on the fence for the beginning of the conversation until he got a better idea of who he was facing. If he appeared weak or naïve, the man would likely try to act all big and superior in an attempt at domination. If, however, he came in strong and cynical this would likely cause the Kodiak to temporarily assume a subordinate posture until such time as a weakness could be found. It was in the man's nature to evaluate the people on a threat versus asset basis and, if someone didn't fall under either category, then they were pretty much ignored.

So he decided that until he could find out what sort of man this Tyr was, he would do what he could to muddy the waters where he was concerned.

As the man came into view, he could see that the muscled man still had his bone blades sticking out of his forearms, so that would make him pre-"If The Wheel Is Fixed". That was a point in the man's favor since the writer's hadn't started to write him as a future traitor until after that particular episode. That did not mean he shouldn't watch his step and not consider the possibility that the man would switch sides at some point in the future. As Dylan Hunt put it in one of the earliest episodes, 'Tyr does what is best for Tyr,' which basically meant that if someone made the Kodiak a good enough offer, betrayal would definitely occur. The one time mercenary would play the odds to the very end and not make his choice until he absolutely had to.

He could work with that.

Despite the noise he'd made entering the room, the man behind the glass-like barrier didn't acknowledge that he'd heard a single thing, no doubt wanting whoever arrived to make the first move so he could counterattack verbally with a more effective combo. In this case, he'd oblige the guy if only because he didn't have the time to play the waiting game with the Kodiak, considering the timetable he was working with.

"So, are you bored of looking at the same three walls yet?" he asked in a fairly casual tone of voice as he leaned up against the wall opposite the man's cell.

This question was apparently unexpected enough to cause the man to turn his head in order to find out who had asked it. When he saw Tyr's eyes, he could immediately tell that he was being measured and evaluated but he had already schooled his features to minimize what he might give away. Unless the guy was incredibly insightful, the Uber wouldn't get any more than what he wanted to convey.

"Bored enough that my captors have apparently seen fit to send a joke to amuse me," Tyr replied in an apathetic sort of way.

He knew that the man before him was referring to the fact that not only was he wearing an official High Guard officer's uniform but also had his captain's pin attached to the neck of his shirt. While the memories of rank in the High Guard were spotty, he knew that the possibility of someone making the rank of captain before they hit their mid-to-late thirties was very unlikely. For someone of his apparent physical age to be a captain was either a joke or a poor attempt at deception.

"While I admit I know a funny joke or three, this isn't one of them," he said before letting his tone. "As I'm sure you've already guessed, something has happened to change the world as you know it. People and places don't match your memories, do they?"

To this Tyr merely remained silent. It was probably an attempt to fish for more info but, in this case, giving that data wouldn't be overly harmful to his position in this discussion.

"The truth is you've been pulled from your native dimension into mine, along with Rhade, Rommie, Refractions of Dawn and the Andromeda Ascendant," he explained, watching the Nietzschean's reactions carefully. "Attempts have been made to find a way to send you all back to where you belong but have been thus far unsuccessful. Now, though, we've been approached by an alien race that say that they can do it but, naturally, they want something in exchange."

"And that would be?" Tyr asked, showing a little more interest in the conversation.

"There's a war on the horizon and they want us to fight on their side," he replied promptly and without flinching one little bit. "We fight for them and when it's all over, they'll send you and the others home. Considering our lack of other options, the crew has agreed to the deal and that, of course, brings me to you Tyr Anasazi, out of Victoria by Barbarossa. The question of what to do with you has been left up to me by the rest of the crew."

"Lucky me," Tyr said with contempt for the statement.

"Considering what the people you know would probably want me to do, I agree that it's lucky for you that I'm the one making the call," he said before changing his tone to one that hasn't made up his mind. "Rhade would probably tell me I should just kill you and toss you out the nearest airlock, eliminating the risk you represent for good. Rommie and Lt. Refractions of Dawn would probably tell me to drop you on a world capable of providing you with the basics. Any suggestion you'd like to toss in?"

Just like he'd planned, this question had caught the Kodiak man off guard but, as expected, the look didn't stay for long.

"Were I in your position, I would free me to act as a counter weight to Rhade because do not believe for one second that you can trust him," Tyr replied with unusual seriousness. "He has betrayed this ship and its captain once before. With enough incentive, he would no doubt do so again."

"And you wouldn't?" he asked in a neutral tone of voice.

"Consider if you will, 'captain', that, at the moment, the distrust placed on me is great enough for them to imprison me here but Rhade's is light enough to allow him rank and position," Tyr pointed out in his usual direct manner. "This means that, while it will take a great deal of time for me to regain the confidence of the crew, he will attain it much sooner. This means that he will be able to enact his plans for betraying you sooner as well. By releasing me and making me a member of your crew, you may have to worry about betrayal from two directions but there is also the possibility of both of us eliminating one another. Such an outcome would be to your benefit."

_Great. First he admits that he plans on stabbing me in the back and then tries to convince me it's a good idea to let him out so he can do it._

"I suppose if I were Nietzschean, I'd just kill both possibilities and eliminate both problems in one shot," he said and watched as the Uber started re-evaluating his arguments. "But since I'm not, I'm going with option C."

"Which is?" Tyr asked with a face that betrayed very little, if anything, where his thoughts were concerned.

"I let you out, make you chief of security and remind you that if you stab us all in the back that you'll likely never see your native dimension or anyone who lives there ever again," he said, laying out the course of action he'd decided upon during the last couple of minutes. "Considering the fact that you have a wife and son back home to get back to, I'd think that being left here in this dimension would be the last thing you want."

There was no mistaking the shock in the man's eyes and he knew right then and there that the Kodiak would do just about anything to get back home.

"Oh, so you didn't know that? Well, congratulations, Tyr Anasazi, you're a father," he said with more than a little genuine praise. "Of course, if you ever want to see your wife and son again, you, like the rest of us, need to fight and most likely win the coming war. Something tells me the Vorlons aren't the type of aliens that pay people for failure."

"Not unless they're fools," Tyr said before standing up from the bench he'd been sitting on. "Very well, captain, you have your chief of security and if it will suffice, I swear to carry out my duties to the best of my ability until this… war of yours is over. Good enough?"

"For now," he replied in an emotionless tone of voice. "Whether or not it stays that way is entirely up to you."

He reached out and typed in the command to open the cell door and watched as the glass-like barrier slid into the wall allowing the tall, muscled man to step out.

_I __**really**__ hope this doesn't wind up biting me in the ass one day,_ he thought as he non-verbally directed the man towards the door.

_**Five Minutes to the Activation of the Temporal Stasis Array, Rommie's POV**_

"Are you sure it's a good idea putting Tyr in charge of security?" she asked as Xander changed out of his uniform in the next room.

She did her best to hide her feelings on the matter since it was the right of the captain in these situations to assign whomever they deemed right for the job but some things are impossible to forget and that was especially true in her case since her android nature allowed perfect recollection. She remembered all too well how Tyr had betrayed Dylan and the rest of them to become the head of the new Nietzschean Alliance. She especially didn't like how he'd somehow rigged the slipstream drive to eject without her knowing about it, so that the cost of escape was the destruction of the Drago-Kasov pride. It was like someone had brainwashed her to betray her friends and her captain. That was something she doubted she'd ever be able to forget or forgive.

"It's not a perfect solution, I'll admit, but it's the best I've got," Xander replied from the other room were he said he was changing into something less formal. "It'll make it harder for him to turn on us in the end, though. I think."

"Harder?" she asked with her bafflement clearly in her voice.

"Think about it. In order for a backstab to work, the people you're going to stab have to trust you, right?" Xander asked and waited for her to nod before continuing. "At the moment, I think it's safe to say that no one on the ship trusts Tyr any further than they could throw him with both hands tied behind their back and he knows this. So in order for him to be able to get what he wants later, he'll have to do something to earn our trust and, since he'll be security chief, that means locating and eliminating weaknesses in ship security that a spy or someone could exploit. By eliminating those weaknesses, it'll be harder for him to betray us down the road since he'll have blocked some of the best ways to do so."

"Assuming, of course, that he doesn't insert some sort of program that would let only him use the weak spots," she said, pointing out the flaw in his theory.

"Later on he might do that but, for the next few months, I think it's safe to say that both you and Rhade will be watching him like a hawk for any signs of sneakiness." He sounded undeterred in his position, "Then, of course, there's the other reason he'll want to stay on our good side: working with us is the only way home for him. Considering that's where his people, his wife and his son are, I doubt he's going to do anything to screw up getting back to them."

While she'd still prefer to dump Tyr on the nearest inhabitable planet, she had to admit that unless someone came along with an even better offer for the Nietzschean, it was unlikely he'd risk being separated from his family forever. Aside from conquest and the death of their enemies, nothing mattered more to Tyr's people than family. Still, she'd keep as close an eye on the possible traitor as she could for as long as she could until she was certain that he wouldn't be able to do anything to her or her crew.

Hearing footsteps, she directed her attention to the doorway separating the two parts of the captain's quarters, she watched her recently appointed captain come into view and almost immediately her mind began to draw comparisons between past and present. Much like Dylan, her new captain seemed to favor loose fitting sweat pants and a tank top when he was in the comfort of his own quarters. Also much like her previous captain, it was her opinion that he looked quite good in those clothes with his toned muscles but, like before, she kept such thoughts to herself. She'd be lying if she said that she'd never entertained feelings of a more than comrade or friend nature with Dylan but High Guard protocol was quite clear when it came to relationships between a ship A.I and her captain. More than that, she remembered all too well what happened between the Pax Magellanic's A.I and her captain when they chose to ignore those rules.

Nevertheless, she was an A.I whose mind was as close to human's as one could possibly get without actually being one, so she could be forgiven if her thoughts wandered where they shouldn't.

"How's the rest of the crew doing with their checks?" he asked, coming to a stop in the middle of the room.

"I finished checking life support and the slipstream drive with Willow just before coming here," she replied, consulting her memories of the checks that had been performed. "Everything is operating within specified parameters and adjustments have been made to protect both from the temporal stasis field as much as possible. Not that there should be any danger, given that they'll be freezing us in time."

"Still, better safe than sorry," he said, nodding in satisfaction. "And the others?"

"Checking," she said while mentally checking the systems the others had been assigned to look over. "Systems checks for both medical and the weapon systems concluded a few minutes ago with no signs of trouble. I'd say we're ready for our two and a half century nap."

"Then tell everyone to make themselves comfortable because I doubt that they want to spend the next two hundred and fifty years on their feet." He reclined back on the bed on top of the sheets, "That includes you, just in case you're wondering."

This was a bit of a surprise but a welcome one.

While it was true that Dylan had treated her like a person and a member of the crew, she knew that the majority of people who interacted with tended to view them as things rather than sentient beings. Only those who knew her well came to realize that she was far too 'human' to be considered a thing and so she had thought it likely that it would take a bit more time before Xander really got to know her. It would seem that it didn't take nearly as much time for her current captain to make friends as it did for other people and that would work to his benefit in the future.

"Then considering how little time we have until the temporal stasis array activates, I'll just sit over here rather than look elsewhere for someplace to get comfortable," she said, walking over to the chair next to the three level Chinese checker set that Rhade often used with Dylan.

"Works for me," he said with a smile that she had become used to seeing on his face.

"T-minus thirty seconds until activation of the temporal stasis array." Her ship self called over the ship's internal communications system.

As her own internal chronometer counted down the final seconds before the entire ship became frozen in time, she began to wonder what the future of this dimension would be like. During the time in which they'd been repairing the ship after the battle with the time travelling hostiles, she'd done a comparison between the Earth of this reality and the one that she called her own. There were a lot of similarities but there were also significant differences, so she honestly couldn't say for certain if the future would unfold like in had in her dimension.

Still, she had hope that, just like the human race of her world, the one that existed here would eventually rise to reach its full potential.

It was only a matter of time.

Thus it came to pass that, with a wave of golden energy, the High Guard heavy cruiser Andromeda Ascendant became encased in a bubble of frozen time. Those within had no idea of how time passed outside of their own little sphere and what sort of changes occurred without their knowledge.

On July 4th, 2018, the first permanent Lunar Colony is established in the Sea of Tranquility on Earth's moon.

On April 3rd, 2085, the United Nations is dissolved and the Earth Alliance is formed with its senate being established in Geneva, Switzerland.

In 2115, Earth Alliance scientists confirm the existence of telepaths.

On Wednesday, April 7th, 2156, first contact is made between the human race and the Centauri Republic, eventually leading to the availability of hyperspace travel for the people of Earth.

In May of 2248, the 'Battle of the Line' occurs and, for reasons unknown, heralds the end of the Earth-Minbari War.

On March 9th, 2256, the last of the Babylon stations is finished and soon after becomes fully operational so that it may begin its mission of peace.

It is not until January 30th, 2259, though, that the systems aboard the temporal stasis array go from maintaining their decades long duty to beginning the process of reintegrating the Andromeda Ascendant with the rest of the universe.

How things would go from there… only time would tell.

_**The Andromeda Ascendant, Command Center, Fifteen Minutes After Temporal Re-integration**_

_**Willow's POV**_

_I wonder what has Xander so worried._ she thought as she entered the command center of the ship.

It had been about five minutes after she'd come out of temporal stasis that her best friend had delivered a ship-wide announcement for everyone to report to command. However the thing that had piqued her curiosity was the fact that he'd added to proceed cautiously. She'd done so much repair work on the ship, she knew where the majority of the systems were, what they could do and which ones had a tendency to explode in your face during a firefight. Before they'd all gone into stasis, she and Rommie had made sure that all the risk areas were either shut down or severely restricted in order to minimize potential trouble. She personally didn't know how being put into stasis could possibly cause problems since it essentially froze everything in the space between seconds, but the ship's avatar had used the old 'better safe than sorry' excuse, so she'd played along.

Still, Xander was her friend and her captain so she'd followed his instructions every step of the way from her quarters.

"What's up, Xan?" Buffy asked clearly not thinking anything was amiss.

"It appears that while we were frozen in time someone got aboard and made a few 'additions' to the ship," Xander replied while reading something displayed on the console of his station.

"What!? That's impossible!" she blurted out even as her mind worked to figure out how someone could do it. "Anyone setting so much as a foot inside the temporal field would've been frozen, just like us."

"Unless they had protection of some kind," Tyr mentioned as though it was obvious.

"Exactly. Considering how fancy the array is, I'd say there's only one possibility for who our unknown visitor is." Xander said, having already drawn the same conclusion.

"The Vorlons or one of their agents." Rommie stated after a moment's contemplation.

"You think they'd have asked before messing with our stuff," Buffy said, not liking what she'd learned.

"Why should they?" Tyr asked rhetorically with some annoyance. "If they're as ancient and powerful as they've led us to believe, we must look like children to them."

"Yeah, well, that's gonna have to change one way or another," Xander said before he pushed the issue aside.

"Maybe sooner than you think," Lieutenant Refractions of Dawn said from her pilot's chair. "A destination's been marked on my star charts. Looks pretty important."

"Put it up on the main screens." Xander ordered before moving closer to the mentioned screens.

"Aye, sir," the Thann said before she typed a few commands into the console built into her chair.

A map of the galaxy appeared, as did icons indicating where they were and where they were being asked to go. It wasn't far away, nor more than two metaphorical galactic blocks in distance, but aside from that there was nothing to tell him what they'd find when they arrived. She didn't like going anywhere without having some kind of idea of what she'd find when she got there.

"Anything in the new files you found about this place, Andromeda?" Xander asked as they watched the screen zoom in on the location until they could see more about the system they'd be heading to.

"Only that it's in a remote part of the galaxy and that there's only one slip route in or out of it," replied the holographic representation of the ship's A.I. "All other possible routes are blocked by various stellar phenomena that would tear this ship apart in a heartbeat."

"An ideal hideout and base of operations," Rhade stated speculatively. "Perhaps that's what it is."

"You think that the Vorlons set up a base for us?" Dawn asked with consideration in her voice.

"It's a possibility, especially because of the information Andromeda found in her database after we came out of temporal stasis," Xander replied for his second in command. "We haven't looked through everything but it looks like we've gotten the galactic encyclopedia downloaded into the ship's computer. There've also been some hardware upgrades to the weapons array and communications systems."

"Sounds like they wanted to make sure we'd be able to go right to work when we 'woke up'," she said, trying to sound positive about it all.

"Awful nice of them, isn't it?" Buffy asked rhetorically and with a bit of suspicion.

"Yeah. It'd be a shame not to see what else they've left for us," Xander said with half-assed interest that wasn't real. "Lieutenant? Set a course for those coordinates and make the jump to slipstream."

"Aye, aye captain," Refractions of Dawn replied as she tapped a few commands into the consoles built into her chair before taking hold of the navigation grips and directing the ship to the nearest slip point.

"Are you sure this is wise?" Rhade asked, sounding a little concerned about the order just given.

"You're concerned this could be a trap of some kind?" Xander asked with a raised eyebrow.

The second in command of the Andromeda Ascendant nodded in response but otherwise was completely expressionless.

"I'll admit that messing with my ship doesn't exactly win the Vorlons any points with me but I think it just has more to do with the age gap between our two races than any bad vibes," Xander said with a voice that implied he had given the possibility some thought. "After all, it doesn't exactly make much sense for them to go all the trouble to bring us to the future just to vaporize us. Until they do something distinctly shady, I'm going to stick to our end of the bargain."

Neither Rhade nor Tyr seemed to like it but neither looked as though they'd be challenging Xander's decision either.

That didn't mean that they wouldn't later but she'd worry about that when it happened.

The transition to slipstream was still disorienting but not as much as it'd been the first time, so she only presumed that it'd get easier each time she experienced it. She had no idea how long it'd be until it felt as natural as her costume personae remembered it being but it'd probably be a few months at least. Looking over at Refractions of Dawn as the Thann piloted the ship through the mass of quantum threads, she thought it might be a good idea to sharpen her piloting skills sooner rather than later, especially considering what she'd found in the main hanger bay; the pride of her 'cousin' Beka Valentine, the _Eureka Maru_.

It'd been a surprise that had caused her to put repairs for that day on hold so she could explore the ship and go through the memories of her Halloween personae. While it wasn't often Mina Valentine did indeed pay Beka a visit every now and again between jobs, the encounters weren't always amicable. Mina could never really respect her cousin due to the limitations that the blonde put on herself in pursuit of the elusive 'Big Score'. It had been the thief's opinion that adhering to those morals would keep the captain of the _Eureka Maru_ from victory for no less than thirty years. The blonde would be an old woman by the time she got her Big Score and, by then, it'd be too late to properly enjoy it. As for Mina, though, the lady intended to gain enough money to live a life of luxury within ten years, if not sooner, and would do whatever she had to within reason to make it happen.

As for Willow Rosenberg… she was young still and so she'd set it at a modest twelve years, with the possibility of increasing it to fifteen if she hit a bad patch or three.

It was just as she finished these thoughts that the Thann brought the ship out of slipstream and images of a section of space encircled in stellar phenomena that left her stunned at the beauty of it all. However it was as she was taking in the sights that she noticed a shape growing ever bigger in the central view screen, capturing her attention in the process. At first glance it was obviously a space station of some kind but it wasn't until they were closer that she was able to make out enough details to realize what it really was.

"A High Guard supply and repair station?" Rommie gasped in surprise.

Of all the things that they'd expected to find, she was confident that not one of them had suspected something like this would be waiting for them. Her Mina Valentine memories provided her with the basic specifications of the station but, really, the name said it all. The sole purpose of the station was to repair damaged High Guard ships and replenish whatever supplies or resources they were lacking. It would easily be up to the task of keeping the Andromeda Ascendant in perfect working shape and make sure they didn't run out of supplies before the war was over. Still, it left her wondering how the Vorlons had managed to make it but then realized that when they downloaded the new information into the ship's computers, they must have extracted the data to build the station as well.

"We're being hailed by the station." Andromeda said from the main monitor on the left.

"Open a channel," Xander ordered after only a few moments hesitation.

With a nod, the ship's A.I did as asked and they received a shock that had her wondering just what their benefactors were up to with all these surprises.

"Welcome to High Guard station Avalon," said the man on the screen before them with a voice and a face that all recognized.

Not surprising, considering everyone in the room had seen Dylan Hunt in one form or another in their lives.

_**Aboard the Space Station Avalon, Thirty Minutes Later, Gaheris Rhade's POV**_

_What is their true purpose in this?_ he thought as the crew walked down the hallway leading to the command and control center of the space station.

It was question he'd been pondering ever since he'd first seen the repair and supply station on the main monitor and he had yet to come up with a definitive answer. There were, however, possibilities that were more likely than the others but he'd wait until he had more information before acting on any of them.

Looking over at Xander, he approved of the look of concealed keen observation that he saw on the young captain's face. Despite the lack of experience on the young man's part, he wasn't so naïve so as to forget to learn more about their hosts and the place that'd be their home for the duration of the war. While he didn't know what Alexander Hunt's reasons were, he imagined that they were similar to his own in that he didn't completely trust the Vorlons. While on the surface the deal appeared to be sound, he could not trust a race that was so advanced that they could not relate to the mindsets of the various younger races they would lead into battle. If a leader could not relate to his troops, then he, she or, in this case, **it** would not be able to fully comprehend their value and therefore would use them up with little concern. So the Vorlons would likely aid the Andromeda Ascendant and her crew but only until they'd outlived their usefulness.

When that time came, he had little doubt that they'd 'dispose' of them using this station to their full advantage.

The doors automatically opened as they finally reached the entrance of the station's C&C and, once fully parted, he along with the others beheld the form of one Dylan Hunt clad in a High Guard uniform. His 'friend' was standing facing the door, as if expecting them but that was hardly surprising since this room would likely be able to call up video feeds from anywhere on the station. However there was one thing he wanted answered before they even got down to business.

"What are you?" he asked bluntly and forcibly making it clear he would not wait for an answer for long.

"Straight to the point, eh?" 'Dylan' asked rhetorically with a small grin on his face. "It's probably best we get this out of the way first anyway. My name is Darren and I'm the avatar of this repair and supply station."

Then, as if to prove this point, the information that had been displayed on the main monitors of the room changed to show three faces identical to the android avatar that stood before him.

"My creators, your benefactors, thought that seeing a familiar face would make the transition to this time period easier," Darren explained while trying to appear likable.

_More like they wanted a face that we would be more inclined to trust and be manipulated by,_ he thought with his usual cynicism. _Yet another reason not to take them at face value._

"Awful thoughtful of them," Xander said neutrally. "So howsabout you give us a rundown on this place."

"As you've probably already figured out, this is a High Guard supply and repair station," Darren explained as various parts of the station began to appear on the monitors. "Thanks to two and a half centuries of preparation time, it's fully stocked with everything the Andromeda will need to do its job and the repair facilities have the necessary equipment to deal with almost any form of battle damage."

Indeed, looking at the images that cycled through the screens in the room, just about every type of repair or maintenance equipment he'd ever seen was present in this station. He could also see storage containers for AP Solenoid Valves, parts for the gravity field generators, as well as components for a Magnetoplasma Dynamic Drive that looked like they were compatible with the Andromeda. Racks of missiles were also visible along with what looked to be parts for two different types of slipfighters, making it clear that the station had been filled to capacity.

All in all it would make fighting the war to come easier to know that they wouldn't have to modify the Andromeda's systems to accept the more common weapons of this time period. Not that he would have shied away from the task if it had to be done but it would have made any future battles… uncertain, since it would take time to become familiar with them.

Time that he did not think they would have a lot of.

Seeing Darren move over to a plain metal box sitting atop a console, he returned his attention to the avatar once more to see what else would be revealed.

"The Vorlons have also taken it upon themselves to create fake identities for each of you so that you'll have an easier time moving about," Darren said as he stepped towards them and opened the box. "Virtually all space faring species need to have what's called an identicard if they want to enter an Earth Alliance controlled facility. It's a personal electronic identity document that has the owner's picture, personal details, genetic password and all other relevant information."

"Sounds like the Vorlons have thought of just about everything," Xander said with bit of annoyance. "I suppose they've already set up our first mission for us."

While he personally thought that showing annoyance was a mistake, he could understand why the young man felt that way. More and more it was looking like their benefactors saw them as being little better than the droids that helped run some of the Andromeda's systems. This went against his Nietzschean pride and he would not take being treated that way for very long. Not that he expected Xander or any other member of the crew to do so but, depending on how hands on the Vorlons intended to be, they might place a member of their people on the crew or contact the Andromeda daily.

"Nope. They've pretty much left it up to you with regards to how to go about preparing for the war to come," Darren said with a slight shake of his head. "Things have developed since you went into stasis and they expect the enemy to show themselves to the universe and go on the offensive within the next year or so. At the moment, all the enemy is doing is gathering its forces and laying down groundwork behind the scenes."

"Then maybe we should find out where they're gathering and getting things ready and throw a surprise or three at them," Elizabeth suggested, sounding like she'd make sure those surprises were a couple megatons of explosive surprise.

"Actually… it would be best if you didn't. Not yet," Darren said, sounding like he'd get in trouble if they went ahead and did that.

"Why?" Elizabeth asked, sounding annoyed that her idea was being hacked apart already.

"Well, unless you plan on fighting the entire war by yourselves, it'd be best to wait a while," Darren replied promptly. "Many of the younger races are unaware of the existence of the enemy or that there's anything real going on. As a result, none of them are prepared yet to fight a war. Some, like the Minbari, are getting ready behind the scenes but it's still going to be a while."

Thinking on this, he could see the wisdom in keeping a low profile for the foreseeable future.

One ship, no matter how powerful, could not win a war.

"Then we wait. We get used to this time, we prepare and when it's time we show this enemy something they could never see coming," Xander said decisively with a resolved look on his face. "You got that, people?"

"Aye, sir," he replied as he began making a mental list of everything he'd need to focus on as second in command.

With that the crew of the Andromeda Ascendant began to disperse both to familiarize themselves with the station and to begin learning of the new time they now found themselves in. It'd be a daunting task for just about anyone but he was confident that they would be able to learn the necessities quickly enough.

The rest they'd deal with as it came to them.

_**March 13**__**th**__**, 2259**_

_**Afternoon**_

_Another glorious day of a glorified doorman, _he thought as he slid another arrival's identicard into the reader. _Sometimes this job really sucks._

He knew he shouldn't be such a wimp about it but he'd just had to deal a group of the most irritating Centauri he'd ever had the displeasure to deal with. All them had attitude to one degree or another but the lot he'd been forced to process has been arrogance personified and had tested his restraint on more than one occasion. Still, he'd kept his cool and kept working towards getting them through customs as quickly as possible so that they'd move on to be someone else's problem.

Of course it hadn't been that easy because, just as he'd processed the last one, a group of Narn had shown up, lighting the fuse on what could've been a very bad situation. Fortunately for him one of the Centauri had thrown the first punch, giving him an excuse to come down harder on them then he could've if all they'd done was talk trash. He'd only been able to arrest the one who threw the punch and give the others a serious warning but it'd been enough to make them back off and had satisfied the Narn. He knew he'd probably catch some grief from Londo later but that was nothing new since, these days, anyone who seemed to take the side of the Narn got preached to by the ambassador. With a little luck, though, the guy would still be feeling a little under the weather from that poison he got hit with a month ago and wouldn't bother trying over something so little.

_Just a few more hours 'til my shift is over with,_ he thought as he turned to face the next person in line.

When he saw the man and woman who were next in line and, for some reason, they struck him as different even though he couldn't see anything that really set them apart from anyone he usually saw during the course of a month. The first was a man that looked to be in his late twenties with dark brown hair dressed in clothes that he'd seen quite a few ship captains wear. He wore a tan jacket over a black shirt with durable pants and boots on his feet that looked like they cost quite a few credits. The woman with him had boots of similar quality and wore a leather outfit that was a shade of red that reminded him a lot of a special type of clay tiles his cousin's place had down in Mexico. It wasn't quite like anything he'd ever seen before but, at the same time, it wasn't so out there that it looked strange when compared to what everyone else.

On her, though, it looked **very** nice.

"Identicards, please," he said as per the usual procedure.

The two of them produced their cards promptly and he went through the process of reading them and logging their arrival with the station computer.

The man came up as Alexander Hunt, age 28, who apparently spent some time as a member of the private security firm back on Earth but now had broken into the transport business. There was other relevant information there but nothing really stood out or caught his attention in a way that would justify looking at him any closer. As for his lady friend, her card said her name was Andromeda Harper, age 37, who used to work at the same security firm as Hunt and now worked as the younger man's executive assistant and number cruncher. A good match of brains and looks in his opinion but, again, nothing he could justify as being a security risk. Also, according to the security scanners built into the entrance of the docking bay, neither of them had weapons on their person or any other flagged items that the scanners were programmed to watch for.

"Well, it looks like everything checks out," he said after returning their identicards to them. "You here for business or pleasure?"

"A little of both Mr…?" Hunt replied with a polite smile.

"Allen, Zack Allen."

"Well then we'll see ya around, Mr. Allen," Mr. Hunt said with a nod before he and his assistant walked away to follow up on whatever business brought them to Babylon 5.

Seeing them go, he couldn't help but admire how Ms. Harper looked in her outfit but was quickly knocked out of his moment of admiration by the haughty fake cough of the next person in line. Turning to see who it was, he was dismayed to find it to be some sort of rich guy who, judging from the look on his face, put the little guy at about the same level as doormats.

_Just when you think that the day is looking up!_

_**Babylon 5, Red Sector, Zócalo, One Hour Later, Xander's POV**_

"So what do you think?" he asked without stopping his visual survey of the area.

"It's certainly busy enough and I've spotted no less than eight different species since we got here," Rommie replied, likewise maintaining her appraisal of the environment. "Setting up here would allow us to keep tabs on the major players in the galaxy and any rumors that might circulate."

"Yep. We'll still have to take the odd job to keep up appearances but it'll help us make contacts that'll be useful when things get busy," he said before leading her over to a table that belonged to the café a short distance away.

"How many do you think we can make before it begins?" she asked him as she sat down and ended her examination of the area.

"Dunno. You saw the same info as me and probably went over it a hundred times more," he replied as he saw a waitress. "Could be a few weeks or it could be a few years. I guess it all depends on how many people get suckered into taking the spider's offer and how quickly they sign on."

"Based on the information in our new database, there's any number of possible targets," she said, pausing only to place an order with him when the waitress arrived then continuing after the woman was out of earshot. "The strong favorites though are the Centauri and the Narn."

"Yeah. I thought the same thing," he said as he waited for the drink he'd ordered. "One is obsessed with status, influence and power while the other is obsessed with giving their hated enemy a serious case of the deads. Wouldn't take much to make them dance like puppets. We should probably keep an eye on any major players that pop up on either side."

"Yup," she said before pretending to sip from her cup.

For the next hour they observed the comings and goings of the various peoples and species that lived on the station or were just passing through on business. This was indeed a busy port of call where aliens of all sorts could be seen and, for a moment, he found himself caught enjoying the dream he was living now. If you'd asked him before Halloween what the most was he could expect to get out of life, he'd have said maybe joining the military and eventually achieving a rank worthy of respect. Never in his wildest dreams could he ever have expected to find himself a captain of one of the most powerful warships ever designed. When added to the adventure of fighting against a powerful dark race bent on creating chaos and conflict, he found himself wondering if he would someday wake up to find that it was all a dream.

He seriously hoped not.

"Fortunately for us, one of the members of the governing body of the Narn regime is also an ambassador here at Babylon 5, so if we watch him we can probably get a good idea of what they're up to," he said, remembering the file he'd read when learning about the Babylon 5 Advisory Council. "Not that they'd be overly sneaky with what they want like the Centauri or cryptic like the Minbari and Vorlons."

"Speaking of cryptic, the Vorlon ambassador is here, too, so we should probably pay him a visit and let him know we're here," she said before turning to look at him directly.

He was about to agree when he spotted a form looking at the two of them from a nearby doorway and smiled a bit.

"I'd say he knows already."

He knew precisely when the avatar of his ship found the Vorlon ambassador Kosh and it made him wonder if the enigmatic race actually practiced their whole mysterious entity routine or if came natural to them.

It was probably a little of both.

Before he could consider going over to the representative of his benefactors to say hello, the looming figure was gone with nothing but normal people passing through the doorway.

_I swear if that guy turns out to be like Deadboy, things are __**not**__ going to go well._

As soon as they finished their drinks, or he did at least, they began to make their way to the business administration office in order to officially register their business. It had been discussed among the crew and eventually they agreed to make Babylon 5 the HQ of their 'business' since it was a nexus of activity. That, of course, didn't mean that they weren't branching out into other directions as well since it never made sense to put all of one's eggs in one basket. While he, Rommie and Willow would station themselves on Babylon 5, the others would have their assignments as well.

He sent Buffy and Tyr to Mars in order to keep a closer eye on Earth, given that he had his suspicions about the death of Luis Santiago. He'd made sure that the former Slayer knew what sort of person Tyr was and that she should be wary of the man.

The fact that Buffy's unique vocabulary would be a good test of Anasazi's tolerance levels was just a side benefit.

Really.

For Dawn and Joyce there was the job of brushing up on the skills needed to do their jobs, as well as test the feasibility of enlarging the crew at some point down the line. He knew that, despite how things had gone in the TV show, they were going to need more than a handful of people to run the _Andromeda Ascendant_. He also knew that if Dawn was to become the chief medical officer for the ship, something she'd expressed an interest in becoming, then she needed to study hard in the coming weeks. He was being honest with Rommie concerning when he thought that the war would begin and so they'd need the youngest Summers girl to be as proficient in treating patients of a variety of species as possible. Surprisingly enough, the last time he spoke with her she'd told him that she'd already made a good dent in human medicine and expected to be done within the year. He supposed that it had something to do with the changes to her body, one shaped to mimic the species of Trance Gemini.

In the show it is shown that Trance had the ability to view different possible futures and that the pointy eared lady actively sought a perfect future that she could bring into being. However he'd always been a bit fuzzy on the nature of this ability. Did she literally live through those possibilities and then rewind back to the beginning before trying again or did it all go on inside the alien's head. If it was the latter, then that could explain how Dawn was able to assimilate so much data so quickly since when compared to predicting the future memorizing information had to be pretty easy.

Still, neither she nor Lieutenant Refractions of Dawn would likely put up with being cooped up on the Andromeda for very long. He'd given them legitimate jobs to do but sooner or later they'd want to explore this new time they'd been brought into and experience things firsthand rather than through files or vids. Hopefully, though, by the time they started getting on his case about it, he'd have laid down enough groundwork with enough people on Babylon 5 that they would be able to visit here without things getting more complicated.

Once they arrived at their destination, he was relieved to see that there wasn't that big of a line up and, with a little luck, Willow would be along soon enough so that they could all go in together. After all, she was going to be the captain of the ship being used in their little 'transport business', so it'd be necessary for her to be there. He'd originally intended for her to stay behind and work on putting together a few doohickies and doo-dads that could help them out in the war to come but then he'd encountered a problem; the _Eureka Maru_ wouldn't take off without a Valentine at the controls.

This was odd because, to his knowledge, the show never showed any sort of security measures on the ship of that nature. He'd asked Rommie about it and she'd said that Beka had apparently gotten a bit mad after the tenth time someone managed to steal her ship, so genetic scanners had been placed in all key systems. The crew on the show could fly the ship, thanks to the Halloween transformation Willow could now pilot it, but no one else would be able to until Willow entered new DNA into the system. His best bud had said that she'd get on it as soon as she could but he had a feeling the redhead wouldn't be too quick in resolving the situation since it'd give her an excuse to go where he went.

"You guys ready?" came the voice of his friend from behind them.

"Yep. Everything okay with the _Maru_?" he asked with some concern, given the atypical design of the craft when compared to the others docked at the station.

"Everything's good. They had to made some slight changes with the docking clamps but nothing to worry about." Willow replied with a smile before focusing on the door in front of them.

"Good, 'cause it'd be a bit of a problem with my plan if we couldn't land it here," he said as the door they stood before opened and the secretary inside beckoned them to enter. "Let's do this."

_**One Week Later, Offices of Valentine Courier Services, Evening, Willow's POV**_

"Well, we've only been in business a week and already we have three transport jobs lined up," she said as she reviewed the details of each delivery.

"Yep," Xander said from behind his desk as the tapped away at the computer. "And unless someone's done a real good job of fabricating good paperwork, they seem to be on the up and up. Rommie's spider crack program hasn't come up with anything to make me think we'll be hauling anything illegal."

"Good. Last thing we need is to be boarded and for someone with authority to spot our distinctly non-local tech," she said, thinking back to decide whether anything particularly suspicious was out in the open on the _Maru_.

"True. It's one thing to explain our weapons as custom made but something tells me the rest would be a little harder to explain away," he said in agreement with her words before shutting down the computer. "Looks like the cargo will be on the _Maru_ by tomorrow morning so we can set out then."

"Sounds good," she said as she got up from behind her own desk.

As they headed for the door, she had to wonder about the route they were taking to establish their network of sources and if it was the most expedient method available. Rules had already been posted in their advertisements to make sure they didn't attract too many enemies of the law and their fees for transporting something depended on things like size, distance, value and potential hazards. Their employers thus far seemed decent enough but not exactly what one would call prime sources of info for the coming war. All of them were too law abiding and none of them could provide information that wasn't readily available to the public. In her opinion, if they wanted the best intel, they needed to make some friends with some of the seedier members of society. If the enemy was putting down groundwork for the war, it'd be through the criminals and those of questionable morality that they'd find their labor force or cannon fodder. That meant that making a few friends in the local underworld who were known to keep their eyes and ears open. They wouldn't have to do anything too illegal themselves, maybe just help a guy or gal out of a tough spot here or there, but it'd net them a solid source.

_Of course there's the whole bit about being able to trust said criminal sources,_ she thought as the door to their office opened. _Being on the wrong side of the law doesn't exactly encourage honesty._

Until she got a better feel for the criminal underworld, checked to see if it matched Mina Valentine's memories, she'd go with Xander's plan. As she watched him lock the door to their office, though, she immediately picked up on something that put her on the defensive. At both ends of the hallway were thugs that were doing a rather poor job of looking inconspicuous and, once Xander stepped away from the door, they began their approach.

"Xan? Company," she said as she casually reached for her concealed mini-gauss gun just in case.

It hadn't been easy to sneak in but, much like she'd suspected, the scanners at all the entry points for the station scanned for specific energy signatures and shapes. By disassembling her weapon into its individual components and concealing them in baggage or jewelry, the sensors didn't know what they were looking at. Then all she had to do was reassemble the pieces once they'd gotten into their quarters and it was ready for use. She sincerely hoped that they wouldn't need it, that they'd be able to send this group of morons packing without it, but she'd rather have the option just in case then find herself nose to barrel.

"Now you see, boys, this is something I always like to see!" the leader of the larger group to her left said with a smile. "Two decent folk going into business for themselves. Far too many just sign up with one of the mega corporations and become a name on a list to those greedy fat cats."

"Too true, boss," right thug replied.

"'Course, greed has a way of not wanting to share anything with anybody, so I suspect those C. would a bit annoyed with such a promising new business taking credits away from their bottom line," the leader said, coming to a stop with the rest of his group about four feet away. "Might lead to some unfortunate accidents being arranged for these two. Maybe something fatal."

"Let me guess: you have an idea of how to make sure that doesn't happen." Xander said politely for the most part but with a bit of mocking on top.

"Of course. Me and my boys have been on B5 for quite some time," the leader said with a friendly smile on the face. "We know all the players and keep a close watch on any newcomers that pop up. We'd be happy to keep those arrogant suits off your back… for a modest fee, of course."

"Protection racket?" she asked Xander even though it was fairly obvious what was going on.

"Protection racket," Xander replied with a small grin before turning to the leader of the thugs. "Sorry, pal, but I think we can keep an eye on things just fine without your help. Now why don't you find someplace else to be before I decide that letting station security know what you're up to is a good idea."

"Now that would be a mistake. Boys? Show these two just how bad an idea it'd be to start spreading nasty rumors about us," the leader said, his earlier friendly façade vanishing.

Seeing that the goons weren't going to use anything other than their fists and a couple of metal rods to teach them a lesson, she took her hand off her mini-pistol and prepared for an old fashioned fight. While not the strongest, fastest or most skilled fighter around, these were just ordinary humans they were up against rather than demons, so she was pretty confident she could hold her own against them. With Xander watching her back, the two of them would wipe the floor with this lot and then call security to get them carted off to the brig.

A minute later she wasn't quite so sure of her victory.

It wasn't that she wasn't acquitting herself well in the fight because she was. Where the hired muscle had the edge in strength and size, she outmatched them in the areas of speed and skill. Evading their blows before dealing out a few of her own, she was steadily gaining ground against them but it'd still take a while before the idiots were all kissing floor plating.

It wasn't that Xander was having problems, either. With all the benefits of being part heavy gravity worlder, he had these fools outclassed in strength and probably stamina as well. True, he was probably holding back to keep this little fact a secret but she had no reason to believe that this would hamper his ability to defend himself. Her ears alone told her that the exclamations of pain were almost completely coming from the goon squad, with only the odd one coming from her childhood friend.

The reason she wasn't quite so sure that they'd claim victory was the fact that more hired muscle seemed to be popping up out of the woodwork, with none of them interested in evening the odds. For every scumbag that went down it felt like two more stepped up to keep the fight going. It made her wonder why the leader of this group of mentally deficient fools had brought so much muscle with him. They hadn't even been on the station a week!

She was just about to look for something to smash that would set off the alarms when for some reason the minions began to fly through the air further down the hall. She couldn't see what was going on due to all the bodies that were in the way but whatever or whomever had decided to fight on their side was cleaning house. With a new font in the brawl opening up, the pressure was reduced on both her and Xander, hastening time to victory by quite a bit. It was only after she took out a thug's knee, kicking him in the head like she was going for a field goal, that she saw who the new arrival was.

It was Rommie and the avatar of the High Guard cruiser looked like she'd had some difficulty of her own elsewhere on the station. Her clothes were a mess with tears and smudges everywhere but the shirt was the worst part of the entire outfit. She'd lay good odds that one good tug by someone and it'd be reduced to rags. The rest would probably need to be washed four times to get everything out, from the stains to the stench. This made her wonder just what had happened to the android to put her clothes in such a state of disarray since, to her knowledge, she'd just gone to get a few last minute details from one of their employers.

_It can wait until AFTER we've taken care of this trash,_ she thought as she ducked a sloppy punch before showing the goon how to do it right.

With an android on their side, it wasn't long before the fight was brought to a close and, seeing as how all three of them were still standing, she'd say they'd won.

It was, of course, at that point that station security showed up looking to 'save the day', only to be a couple of minutes late.

_If security here's going to turn out to be like the S.P.D back home, then making contacts will be easy,_ she thought as she heard one of the uniforms ask for Xander to come back to their HQ for a statement.

_**Babylon 5, Blue Sector, Security Central, Later, Xander's POV**_

"So you have no idea why those guys attacked you?" asked the man with the receding hairline on the other side of the table.

"As I've been saying repeatedly, Mr. Garibaldi, since your people brought me in here: before today I'd never seen those guys before." He was trying to keep the mild irritation out of his voice and failing. "Aside from the fact that they were trying to get us to buy protection from the big bad mega corps, I have no idea why they came after us like that."

"So you're saying that one of the top crime figures on the station came in person to lean on you to pay protection money and just happened to bring over ten of his people with him?" Mr. Garibaldi asked, making it all sound quite farfetched.

"Hey, you guys know these scumbags better than I do but yeah, that's what happened," he said, ignoring the tone completely. "Now are we done here? My people have three jobs to do and they leave tomorrow."

For a moment it looked like the chief of security was going to take them through the entire thing all over again but then, with a sigh of annoyance, he stepped away from the table.

"Fine. If they come after you again, just contact security and let us handle it." Garibaldi said in a no nonsense tone of voice.

"Assuming we get the chance to before they start throwing punches, that won't be a problem."

"Good. Then you'd best get to your quarters," Garibaldi said, sounding a bit more polite. "From what I've heard, Praxus isn't exactly the forgiving kind so you'll need to be wide awake if you're delivering stuff for him. Mistakes and overall sloppiness doesn't go over well with him."

"Yeah. Kinda got that vibe off of him," he said, remembering his meeting with Praxus. "Well, have a good evening, Mr. Garibaldi, and I hope the rest of your shift is a quiet one."

"Somehow I doubt it," the security chief said in a tone that made it clear that he knew which way his luck usually went.

He walked out of the room he'd given his statement in and saw Willow nearby waiting for him and looking like she'd had to repeat herself as much as he had. Expanding his gaze, he couldn't see Rommie anywhere and so looked back at his friend before raising an inquisitive eyebrow rather than verbally asking her anything.

"Rommie's shirt was pretty much falling off of her, so one of the lady security guards took her to get a loaner out of their locker room," Willow replied, looking in what he supposed was the direction the android had gone.

His mind automatically recalling his last image of the avatar, he had to admit that whatever had happened to woman had really done a number on her shirt. He hadn't seen damage that bad since that one time he'd made the mistake of trying to take on Larry and his goons by himself in order to make them shut up about Willow. He'd gotten his ass kicked and his shirt had been hanging off of him by the end but he hadn't minded since Larry had actually stopped harassing Willow for a while. If Rommie's shirt was in a similar state, getting a loaner was the right thing to do since it'd be rather awkward if it fell off before they got back to the _Maru_ where she could find a replacement from her own wardrobe.

He didn't think that Rommie would like it if she got charged with indecent exposure if her damaged shirt gave up and died in public.

Hearing the sound of approaching footsteps, he turned towards it and saw two people approaching them and one was the rough height to be a match for his ship's avatar. However it wasn't until the approaching duo got close enough that he noticed something that had him doing his best to keep his eyes focused on her face.

She was wearing a shirt that was at least a size or two too small for her and, unless he missed his guess, there was a distinct lack of a bra on her body.

"Thanks for the loaner, Miss Sanders," Rommie said, turning to the security guard. "I'll make sure to return it."

"Not a problem, Miss Harper." Sanders said with a polite smile.

Saying goodnight to the rest of those present, the three employees of Valentine Courier Services left security central and headed to the quarters that they'd rented. While it was true that they could simply sleep aboard the _Maru_ and save some credits, the Vorlons had been generous with their starter money so they'd been able to afford three rooms without difficulty.

"So I assume you guys found out the same stuff I did?"

"That one of the players in the local criminal underworld decided to make us a deal we couldn't refuse?" Willow asked rhetorically back before nodding, "Yep. Makes you wonder what we've done to get them so interested in us."

"Probably has something to do with the design of the _Maru,_" Rommie speculated as they got into the lift. "I've catalogued several different ship designs since we arrived here but none look quite like her. The local criminal element probably thought that if we had enough money to build a custom ship, we probably had some money to slide their way."

"Probably. Hopefully the pounding we gave this first group will make the rest rethink trying to pump us for money," he said, considering what they might have to do if the opposite proved to be the case.

"Hopefully," Willow said before looking at Rommie. "What I want to know though is what happened to your shirt, Rommie. It looked like you went a couple rounds with a wild animal."

"That's not all that far off," Rommie replied with a bit of a snarl. "I ran into a group of Mutai fans on their way back from watching a match. They were drunk and thought I was pretty. They wanted to have some 'fun' and when I said no, they decided to force the issue."

"And you beat them up."

"Yeah, but because I held back at the beginning, one of the idiots used his knife to slice up my shirt," Rommie confirmed in a somewhat sour mood. "Things got wrapped up pretty quick after that."

"I'll bet!" Willow said with a smile as her imagination likely came up with a few amusing fight scenes.

"Did you tell the security lady about them?" he asked, figuring that that would be the logical thing to do.

"No. They were just a bunch of idiots drunk out of their minds," Rommie replied as they reached the section of the station where they'd rented quarters. "I didn't see the point in giving security another reason to look at us closer."

He couldn't argue with that and, as he fished around in his pocket for the keycard for his room, he found another reason to be glad that they wouldn't be on station for a few days. Hopefully by the time they all got back, the newness of Valentine Courier Services would be gone and they'd be seen as just another legitimate business.

"Well, you guys, have a good night's sleep," Rommie said as she reached the entrance to her quarters. "I'm going to do some reading on our destinations. See you at the docks around oh-nine-hundred?"

"Sounds about right. See you tomorrow." he said before watching her enter her quarters.

Yawning, he turned to Willow to wish her a good night's sleep but froze when he saw the playful look on her face that just spelled out trouble for him.

"Sooo, Xander? That's a nice shirt Rommie had on isn't it?" she asked, her look never leaving her face.

"I… guess so. Didn't really give it much thought." He was trying his best to keep a straight face and not let his best friend figure out the things he'd noticed first.

"Not even the fact that she wasn't wearing a bra?" she asked, playfulness rising in her voice and expanding on her face.

"O-o-of course not! I would never-!" he denied but, even without a mirror, he could feel his face burning with heat and the look on Willow's face made it clear she knew what the truth was.

That meant there was only one thing he could do: Run for his quarters and get inside before she could punish him!

Thus he did escape for a time, albeit with Willow's laughter echoing in his ears until the door to his quarters finally slammed shut.

_I hope Buffy and Tyr are making progress on Mars. Given how shaky things are there, I'd bet half my credits that the Vorlon's enemy is up to something there as well,_ he thought as he walked to the bedroom. _I also hope that Tyr can teach Buffy the meaning of low profile, otherwise they'll bring both the Free Mars people and the Earth Alliance Military down on their heads._

Then he remembered how Buffy tended to do things back in Sunnydale, as well as how bad she was at coming up with believable cover stories for the times someone stumbled upon some Slayage.

_Tyr will keep things to a minimum. I hope!_


	6. Mars, Marines and Missions

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted materials contained herein. They are the rightful property of their respective creators and the associated companies. I make no profit off of this whatsoever and have no intention of changing this in the future. I write because it's fun and because there are those who enjoy reading my works. Therefore I would appreciate it if no legal action were taken against me because I can promise that what you get won't cover even half your legal fees.

_**Sol System, Mars, New Vegas, Afternoon, Buffy's POV**_

"Well that was fun!" she said as they entered the hotel room they'd booked for the duration of their stay.

"Obviously you have a very different definition of 'fun' then the rest of the universe," Tyr said in a tone that implied that he had a different opinion of what they'd been through.

"Oh, quit your complaining," she said as she dropped the bag she'd been carrying to the floor. "All of Andromeda's gizmos are in place and we've learned lots about what's what on Mars. I'd say it's mission accomplished for us!"

Indeed that had been their mission, to head to Mars so that they could keep a closer eye on Earth because Xander had a bad feeling about the last president's death. She'd heard his reasons and had to admit that something fishy was definitely going on there but she wasn't sure if it had anything to do with the big bads they were getting ready for. It could be just normal political infighting for all they knew, in which case staying on Mars would be pretty pointless as far as the big picture was concerned. Sure, she knew Giles had been concerned about how the enemy would probably try and put agents into key places to manipulate things once the war got started but that was a while off in her opinion. Both her own knowledge and that which was gained through Elizabeth told her that enemies that snuck around setting up their little tricks before showing themselves still left traces of their movements for those with the eyes to see.

Ever since they'd woken up in the new time, she'd done her reading the same as the rest of them and tried to put herself in the position of the Vorlons' enemies. She'd looked at the landscape of this galaxy and evaluated each of the major powers, along with a few of the smaller ones, to judge who'd be useful. The Minbari were an unlikely possibility both for infiltration and as a possible ally since, according to the files, they'd opposed the enemy the last time the fighting happened. Even if there existed some that could be swayed, the more practical course of action would be to destroy them like the threat they were.

The human race, however, was more than susceptible in her mind due to their numerous vices and weaknesses that were available for exploitation. From what she'd read, the human race hadn't evolved as much as she'd have liked in the last two and a half centuries, remaining in most cases just as greedy and corrupt as ever. Given the grudges left over from the Earth-Minbari war, it probably wouldn't take much appealing to those with revenge in their hearts to make them lash out at aliens in general and the Minbari in particular. Already there existed anti-alien groups among humanity that'd proven ready, willing and able to kill anything that was not of the planet Earth.

Both the Narn and the Centauri were at each other's throats, with both races having serious issues that could be manipulated if the right buttons were pushed. The Narn were so determined to get revenge on the Centauri and expand their empire that they'd accept any help that was offered so long as it wouldn't bite them in the ass too much later. If a potential ally looked like they'd betray the Narn right after the Centauri perished, the Narn would steer clear of that ally entirely. However, if the ally looked like it'd be just as worn out as the Narn after the obliteration of the Centauri, then they might very well risk it. The Centauri were arrogance and greed personified in her opinion, with their people under the control of the aristocrats who wanted nothing more than to rule over the entire galaxy. Most of the Centauri would likely be easily controlled due to their faults and, even if some of them could see past their own desires to see the true danger, they'd likely be eliminated.

There were other races but they were too small and too lacking in military strength to pose much of a threat individually. However, if they were to unite together with the Minbari, they could prove to be quite a hindrance and that could not be permitted from the perspective of a big bad. The best way to neutralize them would be to set them against one another with promises of power and glory since it was the weakness of the weak to desire to become one of the strong.

Still, that same strategic Nietzschean mind told her that the enemy would do its best to remain hidden until they believed they'd win by a landslide. Only if their existence was exposed to the general public early would they let slip the dogs of war before then and they would do all they could to prevent that. Since she had neither heard of nor seen any reports concerning unidentified ships of great power, the enemy was still amassing its forces.

Therefore from her point of view, with the Andromeda's devices inserted into key communications relays on Mars and the conclusion of their survey of the major cities, their mission was accomplished.

"Perhaps, but I somehow doubt that our 'captain' will approve commotion you caused accomplishing our mission," Tyr said with dry contempt for her.

"Me? Try us, dreadlock boy," she said with a bit of annoyance. "I seem to recall you pummeling twice as many guys as I did."

"Only because they saw me as the greater threat," he said as he hung his gun belt on a nearby chair.

"Point," she conceded since his size and general disposition did make him look as though he could do more damage. "Still, it's probably best that it turned out this way."

"And how, pray tell, did you come to that conclusion?" Tyr asked, sitting down on the bed.

"If we'd snuck around and gotten caught, they'd have thought we were highly trained mercs or government agents," she explained before going over to the mini-bar for something to eat. "This would've caused them to up security and make our surveillance job all the harder. By going at it the way we did, they'll assume we're just a couple of street toughs or local muscle. Their mistake will make them screw up and that we can take advantage of."

"Perhaps," Tyr said, grudgingly accepting her reasoning.

"Now, you stay out of the bathroom because I'm going to take a shower," she said, heading for her voiced destination.

"As if there'd be anything worth seeing in there," Tyr stated in a matter of fact manner as he reclined on the bed.

With a bit of a growl she thought on the one bump in the road she'd been forced to deal with since the first day they set foot on Mars. It had been their original intention to get two separate hotel rooms but, after spending half the day looking, they'd learned that the only one room was available to them. It had two single beds and was reasonably luxurious but it still meant that privacy was an issue that had to be resolved. They'd tried to see if there were two hotels reasonably close by but apparently there was some big event going on and, unless they wanted to be domes apart, they'd have to share the room. As such they took turns with the bathroom and did their best to make the arrangement work but Tyr, of course, did so in such a way that made her want to kick his ass.

Even the echoes of Elizabeth of Slayer Pride wanted to utilize violence to adjust the muscle bound idiot's attitude and that was saying something.

Slightly slamming the door of the bathroom she took off her clothes and the confining forearm braces that had been uncomfortable in a major way. Sadly it'd been the only way to conceal their bone spikes in a reliable enough manner but that didn't change the fact that she was glad to be rid of them. Flexing her muscles and letting her spikes point out vertically before allowing them to settle in a relaxed position against her forearm, she sighed happily. Looking at the six durable points of bone, she reflected on the fact that they no longer held the stigma they once did for her. At first she'd seen them as abnormal attributes, as a deformity of sorts that got in the way of her desire to live a normal life, with only Giles coming up with a reversal spell giving her hope. When Joan had shown up with this offer for the crew of the Andromeda, she'd grudgingly decided to shelve the reversal spell for the time being in order to help Rommie and the others return home.

Now… now her feelings of revulsion had faded from what it once was.

It wasn't gone entirely but she no longer flinched when she saw them and had even begun to work them into her fighting style more than before.

How long before they stopped being foreign elements and became no different than her fingers or her toes? She wasn't sure she wanted an answer to that question.

_**Two Weeks Later, Andromeda Ascendant, Medical Bay, Dawn's POV**_

"Are you sure you aren't the one making a mistake?" Dawn growled as the holographic patient before her turned red, signifying that it'd died.

"I assure you that I am tracking your movements down to half a millimeter and the hologram matches the specifications of a fully grown human precisely," replied the hologram of the ship's artificial intelligence. "You are improving with your technique, though."

"Not quickly enough," she grumped as the holographic patient reset itself back to its untouched state. "At the rate I'm going it'll be a year or more before I've actually earned the job of the ship's paramedic."

"The average amount of time it takes to become a paramedic is about two and a half years but with your memories from the Halloween spell, you may be able to reduce that by half," Andromeda said encouragingly from her position in the room.

"But the war could start tomorrow for all we know!" she exclaimed, not happy at the idea of not being able to make a meaningful contribution when the time came.

"Unlikely. With the information that the captain and the others have managed to send back, as well as what I've managed to get on my own, I project that the war will start in roughly fifteen months," Andromeda stated in a perfectly logical manner. "That is assuming, of course, that nothing happens to force the enemy to act prematurely."

Looking at the holographic manifestation of the ship's A.I., she had to wonder at how accurate that estimate was. Sure, if it was a simple matter of facts and calculations, she'd say it was pretty accurate but considering there was people involved, free will increased the inaccuracy of it all. After all, you could read every psychology book and research the people involved until you were blue in the face but that still didn't guarantee you'd know what they were going to do next.

_At least I have a deadline to work by this time, _she thought as she looked at her holographic patient. _With a little luck I'll at least manage to become a paramedic by the time things take off with the war._

"I'm gonna go get some lunch, Andromeda," she said, deciding she needed a breather before tackling her training again. "I'll be back in an hour."

"Understood," Andromeda said before winking out of existence.

Leaving the medical bay, she decided that she was in the mood for some fruit so began heading for hydroponics where, if memory served her right, her mother was at the moment. With the heavy cruiser in hiding for the time being, there were only so many things she and her mother could do with their time. Since her body was like Trance Gemini's pre-time switch, she'd been vetoed from the 'away missions', as Xander called them, since she'd likely be treated as a first contact entity and that would draw unnecessary attention to them. The captain assured her that she'd be allowed to go later once they'd gained a better first hand understanding of the galaxy. When she'd pointed out that they had files on top of files on every space faring race, he'd said that reading about them was one thing but seeing them in person was quite another. She had conceded that and chosen to focus on becoming a competent paramedic for the ship since it'd take too long for her to acquire the skills to become the chief medical officer of the Andromeda.

As for her mother, the matriarch of the Summers pride was dividing her time between tending to the hydroponics bay, which had recently gotten fresh seeds from a variety of plants, and taking incoming communications from the others. Truthfully, though, she believed this was probably for the best considering all that had happened in the last year that they were all awake. Despite the resiliency her mother had shown since Halloween, she could tell that the woman was still coming to grips with all the changes that had occurred. It wasn't an easy thing going from your average mother of two living in a small Californian town to being an offshoot of the human race on a spaceship light years away from Earth, as well as in the future. The rest of them were more used to the weirdness of the situation because of the whole vampires, demons and magic stuff that could be found on the Hellmouth. Despite what some people thought, she'd picked up on the truth of Sunnydale only a few months after they'd moved there so, by the time that Halloween changed things, it was no big deal. For her mom it was definitely a big deal, so putting too much on her plate at once would only make it harder to deal with.

_I wish they'd installed elevators in this ship!_ she thought with a bit of annoyance as she climbed up the ladder to the next level. _It'd make things so much easier!_

She'd mentioned this to Andromeda a couple of days back and, according to the A.I., the idea had been considered but rejected due to possible problems during combat. After all, during combat, things were shorting out or being damaged all over the place, so it'd be awfully inconvenient if something or someone got stuck between levels. Therefore the number of hanger bays and the ladders were meant to act as a way to prevent this inconvenience from occurring while still allowing for speedy managing of people and resources.

Personally she believed that they should've just done both.

It took her less than ten minutes to reach hydroponics and, as her eyes took in the entire room, she could see that it'd probably be at least another couple of months before the whole place was green. Some things grew fast and other things grew slow, not to mention the fact that they'd bought some things just a little shy of being ready to eat so they wouldn't have to wait forever for some food. The memories from her Halloween self let her see what the place was supposed to be like in all its glory so she had something to look forward to in any case.

Seeing her mother on the far side of the room, she decided to talk with her a big before putting her lunch together. "Hey Mom! How are the greens coming?"

"Slowly as always but we have the time," her mother replied after adjusting a setting on one of the automated mechanisms of the hydroponics devices. "Taking a break from your studies?"

"Yeah. Got tired of seeing blue turn red," she replied with a frown of grumpiness.

"You'll get the hang of it. Just remember to take your time and go one step at a time," her mother said with an encouraging smile. "You're a lot like Buffy in a way. You have patience, just not a great deal of it."

"I have patience!" she defended of herself.

To this her mother only raised an eyebrow, as if to say 'try telling that to someone who has not known you since the day you were born'.

To this she could only grudgingly concede that there might have been a FEW times that she might have been unwilling to wait for certain slow pokes but she was NOT as impatient as Buffy. Her sister's patience didn't extend past five minutes, at best, and that was with their mother glaring at her the entire time.

"If you're here for some lunch, I believe there is a melon that's just about ready to eat," her mother said after a moment's thought. "Want to eat it with me?"

Remembering all the times that she'd come home only to find her mother waiting for her in the living room with a snack ready to eat, she could only smile. With a nod of agreement she went with her mother to the section of hydroponics where the melons were growing, a smile on her face matching the one on her mother's face.

At moments like these she didn't mind the fact that she'd have to wait to see the rest of the galaxy.

_**May 15**__**th**__**, 2059**_

_**Babylon 5, Zócalo, Eclipse Café**_

_**Afternoon, Xander's POV**_

"Noticed something interesting?" he asked from his seat after taking a look about the area.

"You mean besides a decided increase in Earth Force personnel on a station that's supposed to be so diplomatic that even the bugs try to talk things out?" Willow asked in perfect deadpan rhetorically. "Nope, not a thing."

"Something's going on and it's going to be big," he said as he tried to figure out what that something was. "Anything come up on any of your fishing trips that could explain this?"

"No, which means this must've all been brought together within the last four to five days," Willow said after recalling her last unauthorized dip into the Earth Force files on the station. "Want me to look into it?"

"Yes, but be careful," he told her after checking to see if anyone was paying them too much attention. "Security around this is probably def con 3 so they'll probably have at least a handful of people watching for someone stepping on their grass."

"Like they'd even see me!" Willow said, looking and sounding supremely confident in her skills.

"Wills, this isn't like back home in SunnyD. The universe has come a long way as far as CPUs and security is concerned," he cautioned, wanting her to take things more seriously. "Considering how you probably plan to do a little snooping, I'd hate for a virus to take a joyride through your brain."

"Fine! But only because you're so worried," Willow said as she finished her drink and got off her chair. "I'll do it from the Maru and make sure the right defense programs are in place before I start. Shouldn't take more than an hour or two to find out what all this is about."

"See you then," he said as he watched the redhead navigate her way through the dense crowd of normal station residents and their new arrivals.

"It's a good thing that we finished our last job yesterday," Rommie said from her seat next to his. "With all this traffic, there's no way we'd be able to leave before the soldiers do."

"Yeah, and since the last two jobs were particularly good we won't have to worry about paying rent either for at least two months," he said agreeing with how bogged down things had become. "So what do you plan on doing until this blows over?"

"I'll probably go over the 'gossip' that Buffy sent us and see if there's anything we should be worrying about." Rommie replied after a moment's consideration. "After that I'll probably need to get some 'sleep', but aside from that… nothing."

He knew that by 'gossip' she meant the information that the devices Tyr and Buffy had planted on various communications relays on Mars. He also knew that 'sleep' was basically code for recharging herself by hooking up to the station's power distribution network. However the reason he only partially rolled his eyes after hearing her response was because that was what he expected the avatar of a warship to do. He'd asked her a couple of offhand questions since they'd first met and, based on the answers, he figured that unlike the ship that had been pulled from some time prior to 'It's Hour Come 'Round at Last', she had been taken just before the end of the fourth season. He'd thought that with that much time in a pretty much informal environment, with no strict adherence to High Guard protocol beyond what was necessary, she'd have picked up more extracurricular tastes. He'd seen the 'girl talk' scenes and he knew that she was capable of thinking about things other than her job, so it made him wonder why she was reverting back to a more professional mindset.

It was in that moment that he decided to take both a positive step and a potentially risky one.

"The 'gossip' can wait until tomorrow. This is probably going to be one of the few breaks we'll get before business picks up both officially as well as unofficially. You need to relax and have a life outside of work or you're going to burn out."

"I appreciate your concern, Xander, but I think you know that it'd take something pretty big to burn me out," Rommie said with genuine gratitude for his concern. "Besides, without more information there's no telling when 'business' might pick up and I'd think you'd want to know ahead of time rather than after the fact."

"Somehow I doubt that taking one or two nights off from work is going to be the death of us," he said with an encouraging smile. "Look, I plan on watching some old Earth movies that came out after we 'left' and I'd like a second opinion. Interested?"

"Maybe. Will Willow be watching them with us?" she asked, sounding mildly interested in the offer.

"I would've asked her but she went a little crazy with her implant after we got here and wound up downloading every movie she was interested in right into her head," he replied, remembering the first movie night he'd had with his friend in this new time. "Now every time we try to watch something together, she either gets bored because she's seen it already or tells me how it's going to end ten minutes into the movie. Not exactly a good way to enjoy myself."

Indeed it had been something of a daily thing with Willow when she wasn't doing her part as the pilot of the Maru, you could usually find her jacked into a computer through her data port. When he'd asked her once what she was doing, she'd told him that a lot of the tech info that her Halloween personae had left her was too different from the tech in their present time. Due to this difference, she was doing her best to bring her knowledge up to date so that, when needed to do some sneaking either virtually or literally, she'd be up to it. It hadn't taken much consideration on his part to agree with her because, while humanity had come a long way since they were last on Earth, they still weren't close to the Andromeda's level of technology. Willow was able to use her data port with the electronic tech so long as she used a customized attachment so that she could interface with the crystal ports among other things but much of the other hardware aboard the Andromeda was incompatible. His best bud was confident that given time she'd be able to modify their gear to eliminate this problem but, for the time being, their options were limited.

"No, I guess not," she said before considering things for a good couple of minutes. "Alright. Give me some time to tie up some loose ends in my quarters and I'll be there in… an hour?"

"Sounds good to me. See ya then!" he said, a smile on his face in response to his victory.

With that the avatar of the Andromeda Ascendant left to disappear into the crowd but it wasn't until he turned back to his drink that he realized what the two ladies had done either intentionally or unintentionally.

They'd left him with the bill for both their drinks and, in Willow's case, her meal.

With a sigh he took out his credit chit and slid it into the slot in order to pay for everything and mentally hoped that this wouldn't be a pattern. Once he heard the beep that signified that the money had been transferred successfully, he began to make his way down the center of the Zócalo since the line up at the closer lifts seemed to be quite long. It was as he reached the halfway point that he spotted a mess in the process of being made and for a moment he wondered if he should get involved. On the one side was the local chief of security Michael Garibaldi and, unless he was mistaken, the Minbari ambassador Delenn. The former had kept a close eye on all three of them after the little dust up with one of the local scumbags for a few weeks but, when nothing more had happened, had backed off. This he considered a good thing since it meant the man took his job seriously and was good enough at it that he made sure a problem was solved for good before moving on. Definitely a step up from the S.P.D back home that tended to waste no more than twenty-four hours on any given case before sweeping it under the rug for good.

The latter person he didn't know at all really beyond what he'd heard while walking through the hallways and the few times he'd spotted her walking about the station. Most people said she was a peaceful woman who truly believed in Babylon 5's mission and was a clear cut member of her people's religious caste. People also said that, prior to the second week of January, she didn't have hair but rather looked like any other female Minbari that could be found walking about the station. Apparently she'd undergone some sort of transformation inside a cocoon thingy for two weeks or so and come out looking like she did now. No one really seemed to know WHY she'd done this to herself, or at least no one he was in a position to overhear speaking, but it was being met with mixed reviews by the locals. The Minbari were wondering if she was truly one of them anymore and if she had any right to be the ambassador for them. The other aliens were taking it in stride and, for the most part, didn't care so long as she continued to perform her duties as she had before.

It was the humans that presented the most conflicting of opinions and looked to be leading to trouble.

Most humans seemed to look at her like she was some kind of side show freak at a circus, like the bearded lady or the Siamese twins. They looked at her with fascination as she went by and gossiped about the changes Delenn had undergone but other than that didn't take any action. Some treated her pretty much the same as they always had and only noticed the changes she'd undergone for the first couple of days before the novelty of it all wore off. At the moment, though, the source of his concern came from the very small group who still harbored a hatred for the Minbari people. The war between the Minbari and Earth had been over for over ten years but there were still people who refused to forgive or forget the pain and the loss they'd experienced because of their old enemy.

That small group though apparently had representatives because, at the moment, while the ambassador continued to speak with the security chief, there were three Earth Alliance soldiers glaring at the Minbari woman like she was an insult to every human in existence. Seeing this, he couldn't help but compare it to how certain people of mixed ethnicities must have felt back before he was born, how they'd been seen as abominations and were sometimes treated even worse than those who were completely of one ethnicity or another. He wanted to believe that the three morons would limit their discontent to venomous glares and realize that someone speaking to the chief of security might not be the best person to harass but then he remembered how his luck tended to go.

As he saw Garibaldi walk away to attend to some rowdy infantrymen a short distance away, he knew his luck would remain true to form and so it did as the three morons advanced towards Delenn.

_Better go save those jackasses from themselves,_ he thought as he quickly began to navigate through the crowd.

Seeing them corner the woman up against a wall, he began to be a bit more forceful in carving a path to his destination since he feared what might happen if he didn't get there in time.

"Your people killed my people at the line, bony!" the bald leader of the trio said in dangerous tones. "Now you parade around trying to look human! What you need is a **good** lesson!"

"Are you sure you're qualified for that, buddy?" he asked as he quickly put himself between the three soldiers and the ambassador. "'Cause from where I'm standing, that might be a bit above your IQ."

"Who the hell are you?! Some bonehead lover!?" asked the bald man who didn't look like he'd back down in the least.

"Honestly I don't have an opinion about the Minbari one way or another," he replied while trying to make sure the ambassador was shielded from all three. "I do, however, have a problem with three tough guys ganging up on woman they've probably never seen before today and as far as I can tell doesn't know how to fight. Now, how about you move along and find someplace else to be before things get nasty."

Looking the man right in the eye he could tell that this idiot was much like a dog in how he thought and that if he could make it clear who was the alpha of the two of them, they just might be able to avoid a fight. He really didn't want to be put back on Garibaldi's radar so soon after getting off of it but he wasn't about to bank on the kindness of the surrounding strangers to save ambassador Delenn.

"You don't want things to get nasty, huh?" asked the bald guy in a somewhat cooled off manner. "Well that's just… TOO BAD!"

The first punch was thrown and he found himself taking on three guys at once while keeping Delenn from being exposed enough to present a tempting target. With the situation bringing forth his High Guard CQC skills to the forefront, his body reacted half on instinct and half of his conscious direction. Within the first few seconds he made sure to hold back on his blows since he knew that the strength he possessed by being part heavy gravity worlder would be overkill on these three. He'd tested himself on the weights aboard the Andromeda before heading out for Babylon 5 and he topped out at about twenty-five hundred pounds. Considering that the record for a normal human was somewhere between five hundred and six hundred pounds, it was safe to say that if he wanted to he could snap the three stooges before him in half. That, however, would get him thrown in jail and probably sentence of ten to twenty years, so he'd very much like to avoid that if at all possible thankyouveryMUCH. Fortunately, even holding back, he could tell that the three men trying to beat him into another incarnation were feeling his blows and might actually be reconsidering their choice to fight him.

"WHAT THE STROAKIN' ITCH IS GOING ON HERE!?" came a booming voice that could only belong to the person in charge of keeping the soldiers in line.

Almost immediately his adversaries lined up and stood at attention as a fifty-six year old man with snow white hair shouldered his way through the crowd, glaring at the three infantrymen. With some kind of stick in hand, the man strode purposefully back and forth in front of the three men, occasionally sending a look in the direction of him and the ambassador, tapping each quite hard with the implement in his hand as he went.

"Who started this dust up?!" the man with the name tag Plug asked, sounding like he wanted an answer immediately.

As tempting as it was to dump the blame entirely at the feet of the three idiots, he had a sneaking suspicion that ambassador Delenn would probably object to this. As a woman of peace she'd probably prefer that the trio be let off with a stern warning and nothing more and, since she was the victim, he felt obligated to at least try to do as she'd wish.

"Sir, if I may? This has all just been one big misunderstanding," he said, stepping forward to get the older man's attention. "I accidentally bumped into these three on my way back to my quarters and, due to the bad day I've been having, might've said some pretty uncomplimentary things about their mothers. It's entirely my fault and if these guys are willing to let bygones be bygones, then so am I."

"Is that so?" Plug asked, sounding skeptical of what he'd been told. "Is there anyone else here that can confirm this little fairy tale?!"

"I can confirm what he has said," Ambassador Delenn said, stepping out from behind him so she could be seen. "It happened just as he described it. It was an accident and misunderstanding. Nothing more."

For a moment it looked like Plug was going to disregard the story he was being fed but then likely believed that the paperwork involved in tossing the three idiots into the brig would be too big a pain in the ass. "Fine. You three mutant slugs had best thank whatever gods you maggots pray to that I've got better things to do then whip some discipline into your sorry butts," Plug said in a fiery manner as he firmly struck each of the idiots with his stick. "Now move on outta here before I change my mind! MOVE IT!"

Watching as the three ground pounders marched away, he shook his head and hoped that he didn't wind up throwing down with more like them before they left.

"Thank you for your help Mr…?" Delenn asked, attracting his attention, causing him to turn to her.

"Hunt, Alexander Hunt," he said, filling in the name she was obviously fishing for. "It wasn't a problem, ambassador. I've never liked bullies and can't say I like people who can't let go of the past either. Life's too short to let old grudges pile up."

"That is true. Nevertheless, thank you," Delenn said before bowing respectfully and walking away.

Seeing her go, he allowed himself one small grin of satisfaction for a good deed well done before resuming his journey to the next closest lift.

Hopefully he'd managed to get all the way back to his quarters without getting involved in anything else, otherwise his whole evening was going to be shot.

He had just stepped into the lift when he realized that he'd just jinxed himself.

_**Late Afternoon, The Eureka Maru, Willow's POV**_

_Okay… surge protector in place… signal scrambler operational and my viral-security countermeasure programs are up and running,_ she thought as she watched all of her precautions fall into place. _Time to take a peek and see what they're hiding._

She inserted one end of the cable into the Maru's interface port and then slid the other side into her implant. As the conscious world slipped away, she found that she'd pretty much gotten used to interacting with computer systems this way and, as the world she knew was preplaced with primitive information based constructs, she immediately got to work. First she constructed a series of connections between various terminals in the station to make it harder to trace things back to her. Then she made her way to the area of the station that she knew General Franklin was working out of and, after carefully slicing her way through the security programs without tripping any alarms, she was in.

_Good. Not a lot of places to look and it looks like one folder has been accessed much more often than the others._ She accessed the popular location, _Let's see what 'Operation Sudden Death' is all about._

Looking through every file in the folder, she discovered quite a few things and not all of them good. 'Operation Sudden Death' was a military operation set to go down in twenty-four hours involving the invasion of the planet Akdor. Apparently the Sh'lassen government had made an official request to the Earth Alliance for military aid against the rebel faction that had divided the Sh'lassen Triumvirate. According to the documents she could access, the objective of the operation was to assault the stronghold of the rebel faction that contained the majority of the group's leadership. All the messages from the Sh'lassen government implied that this would be a simple matter for General Franklin and his forces. However Mina Valentine had been around long enough to read between the lines and her gut was telling her that there was something that the aliens weren't telling Earthforce. If Matok could be taken so easily, they'd have done it themselves long ago so she was betting things were rougher than described in the documents. As she continued to slip through the files, she tried to see if there were any recent scans of the location so she could see what they were up against.

_Doctored. Definitely doctored,_ she thought as she looked at what had been provided. _The Sh'lassen's did a good job but Mina was a pro at doctoring files to look like she wanted them to._

While this didn't tell her just how bad it actually was on Matok and what the 356th infantry division would be up against, it still stank from her point of view. The Sh'lassen's were hiding something and she didn't like the scenarios that the Valentine part of her was coming up with. Once she finished looking through the files, she wiped away her digital fingerprints, withdrew from the room's systems and, a couple of minutes later, she was looking at the inside of the Maru again. Pulling out the connection prong from her implant, she shut down her programs and neatly put away her hacking tools before slipping the case back under the bunk bed.

_I'm gonna need more recent intel and that means heading to sector twenty-one for a look see,_ she thought as she walked out of her room aboard the Maru. _It's a good thing I managed to sneak one of the Andromeda's sensor drones into the cargo pod of the Maru. I'm going to need it to get the tactical information on Matok._

As she navigated her way to the cockpit, her mood soured a bit as she realized that she wouldn't be getting any sleep anytime soon. It'd be an hour or two for her to get to a remote system and then up to two more to get to sector twenty-one if she used the slipstream drive to carve some time off the trip, so at best she might get back in seven hours. This did NOT sit well with her since she was already a little tired but, by the time she returned, she'd be ready to fall down unconscious. As it was she was going to have to chug a couple of cans of the most sugar filled caffeinated drink there was to keep herself alert enough to do what she wanted to do.

For a moment she wondered if it was really worth all the effort she was putting into this personal investigation. It was mostly just suspicion and idle curiosity that had started it rather than any signs of real shadiness. Did she really want to follow this path to its destination?

Remembering the reason they'd been temporally displaced and what she knew of the enemy's tactics, her resolve became rock solid putting purpose in her stride.

She would find out the whole truth about Operation Sudden Death and, if she didn't like the information she discovered, there would be consequences for all involved.

_I might be on the fence at the moment but if I don't like the scans, that could change._

_**Evening, Xander's Room, Rommie's POV**_

"I don't suppose it'd be possible to make a suit like that?" Xander asked as they watched the closing credits of the latest film to be watched.

"Not precisely like that, no," she said after consulting what files she had in her systems on the subject. "The internal circuitry alone would make it much bulkier than it is in this film, to say nothing of the life support mechanisms needed for travelling at that speed."

Indeed while it'd been amusing to watch the show and how they depicted a high tech suit of armor, it wasn't realistic from a technological point of view. There was no way that early twenty-first century technology could have been used to create such a piece of tech, especially not one with such fine control over its functions. Still, she had to give the people behind the movie credit for making it look believable since, even with the sensors in her eyes, the artificial nature of the scenes wasn't obvious. For normal human eyes it'd be quite difficult indeed to find the proverbial 'seams' in it all and that, she supposed, was the purpose.

After all, 'suspension of disbelief' only took you so far and, if a vid looked too fake, then no one would want to watch it.

"I guess. Besides, a suit of armor like that would be pretty useless against even a light cruiser of this time," Xander said before a grin showed on his face. "I'm sure you could swat it out of space with your big guns if they were within reach."

"To which 'big guns' are you referring, captain?" she asked, feeling a little playful.

"What do you mean?" he asked with a bit of confusion on his face.

"Well, the term 'big guns' has quite a few different meanings," she said, making it sound casual but with a tinge of amusement. "They can mean large biceps, large triceps or it can mean…"

Deciding to give the last possibility with action rather than with words, she placed both hands under her breasts before giving them a jiggle. When she saw the look on his face, she couldn't help but laugh since it was the first time she'd seen that expression on him. Some might consider her a little bold or naughty for doing such a thing but she was sure Xander would understand her humorous intentions. Besides, unlike humans, she didn't have quite the same rules about what was proper and what was improper. Despite her status as a sentient artificial intelligence and how human she might appear to others, she knew she was not human so she wasn't as bound by their morals as they were. Oh, she could follow them when necessary and while she was on duty she'd follow official protocol as well as the practices of that the crew as a group found acceptable, but at the moment she was in an informal setting so she felt like having a bit of fun.

"Ahem… I was actually referring to the big guns we left behind back with Dawn and Joyce," he stated, trying to regain his composure. "The planet busting kind. Still… given the kind of guy Tony was, your… guns… would probably have the same effect as your PDLs."

She had the good grace to blush a bit at the compliment even as she chuckled at how that'd likely look if it actually happened in the real world. The multi-billionaire coming at her, meaning her harm, then with the usual Hollywood flair she'd pull down the front of her shirt exposing the breasts Harper had tacked onto her gynoid form, causing the playboy to go flying in the opposite direction. She couldn't stop chuckling at the scene her mind was coming up with and soon Xander joined her for a few minutes. As they both finished getting it out of their systems, she found that she was enjoying this 'movie night' that she'd been invited to take part in. It was fun and it offered her some insight into what sort of person her captain was by considering his movie choices. His choices seemed to be divided between comedy and action movies, with no clear preference from a numbers perspective, but there were other things the popped up within those choices.

He preferred comedy that focused on witty statements, quips and one liners rather than clumsy actions or clownish behavior. To her this implied that he preferred intelligence over something that required outside help like prop comedy.

He liked strong characters that could handle themselves in difficult situations rather than those who needed rescuing often or just cowered behind something while others took the risks. That to her meant he valued self-reliance, friendship, loyalty and strength but didn't care for people who didn't have the courage to take a risk for a friend.

They'd watched five movies so far and would probably watch a few more since based on her observation Xander tended to turn in around eleven in the evening. As for her she still had a good five hours before she needed to return to her room in order to recharge her internal power cells by hooking up to the station power grid. So, unless her captain chose something particularly disgusting or offensive, she'd likely stick around if only to spend some time with him.

Back in her native dimension, the relationship she had with Dylan was mostly a professional one and, while they occasionally spent time together while off duty, it wasn't the same as this. This was 'hanging out' and was a lot more like the 'girl time' she had spent with Trance and Beka during the few quiet periods on the ship. It was different since the recreational activities of her dimension were different than those in his dimension but she still found it enjoyable enough. It was just one more reason why she felt that having Xander as her captain was the right thing to do and looked forward to seeing how things would go in the future. After all, while some of his choices might have been… questionable, they were still enough to keep life interesting and were different enough from Dylan's that she couldn't yet predict his actions. His battle tactics against the alien attackers centuries ago were decidedly different from what her previous captain would have tried and, when he'd told her to pick out her own quarters aboard the ship, it'd been a bit of a surprise. Now he was asking her to spend off duty time with her like he would any of his human friends and she found it… refreshingly good.

Of course her little joke earlier was more the result of a comment Willow had made the day after they'd fought the local criminal element trying to force them into a protection racket. She'd left her quarters to return the shirt she'd been lent so she wouldn't break any public exposure laws and wound up meeting Willow. The redhead had taken one look at the shirt and smiled in a way that always meant something was up when it was on the face of one of the Valentine family. The current owner of the Eureka Maru had tried to casually inquire with her how she'd liked the shirt and if she'd like to have more like it in her closet. She'd honestly told the pilot of their transport business that, while it was a little tight, she thought it wasn't any worse than her usual High Guard uniform and didn't hinder any of her systems either. Willow had then told her how she actually thought the shirt was the perfect size for her and knew for a fact that Xander had liked the effect it had on her appearance as well. The redhead had said it in such a playful manner she'd known that there was hidden meaning in the statement so she mentally reviewed not only her captain's initial response to the shirt but also when she'd gotten a good look at herself in a reflective surface.

She'd easily figured out the hidden meaning and, at first, been a bit embarrassed that the shirt had left so little to the imagination.

That had changed over time and she found herself oddly flattered by Xander's initial reaction as well has his behavior on the way back to their rooms. She knew how most human males tended to view her when they saw her and how they tended to treat her like some high priced sex bot once they found out she was a ship's avatar. Even without consulting the morals and values of her crew, she'd known to be angry, to deal out some violence as needed and reduce her opinion of any man who treated her in a similar manner. However Xander's reaction was different: there was definitely a momentary gaze of lust that pretty much confirmed where his mind had gone once he'd realized just how tight the shirt was but, for the entire walk back to their rooms, he'd done his best to keep his eyes above she shoulders. This told her that, while he found her chest attractive, he was well mannered enough not to let his lust control him and, if she was right, had been penalized in the past for ogling too long or more than once. She probably had Buffy and Willow to thank in that regard but she liked to think that at least a third of it was Xander's own strong will and morality.

His past 'training' and self-control had made the joke amusing though and that was good enough for her.

"Well, let's see what other wonderful adventures and quips the past has to offer us," Xander said as he got off of the couch they'd been sharing and moved to the console beneath the screen.

"You do know that you can just use voice commands to make a new selection, right?" she asked, wondering why he went to all the extra effort.

"Old habits die hard," Xander said as he began to operate the system. "Besides, this way I can surprise you with my selection instead of giving you fair warning beforehand."

"You're not going to choose another one of those movies with Barbie dolls wearing next to nothing in them, are you?" she asked in a serious manner even though she was playfully grinning on the inside.

"And risk pissing off an android capable of convincing her digital 'sister' to give me nothing but cold showers every time I'm back aboard?" Xander looking over his shoulder with a lopsided grin on his face, "I do have SOME common sense rolling around in my head, you know."

"I wouldn't ask her to do that," she said with mock defensiveness. "You could catch a cold and that'd impair your ability to run the ship."

"Nice to know you have my good health in mind."

"I'd ask her to put Irish folk music through the speakers in your quarters for a week straight," she said, letting the other shoe drop and enjoying the barely perceivable shudder that went through her captain.

"You are an evil, evil, woman. You know that, right?" he asked rhetorically, not looking back. "Hmmmm... let's see how this 'X-Men: First Class' turns out."

SNAP! CRACKLE! POP!

The sounds that came out of the console as all of a sudden sparks, smoke and such were expelled from it caused Xander to jump back in surprise. Watching as the lights flickered a bit before deciding that they were tougher than any puny console and screen by staying on, thus preventing the room from descending into darkness, Xander shook his head, "I guess movie night's over with." He eyed the still smoking console, "Bummer."

_**A Little Later, The Slip Point for Sector Twenty-One, Willow's POV**_

_Alright. I came out far enough from the local jump gate that none of the local traffic should know I'm here and, based on the tech specs for the sensors the rebels are using, they're in the same boat,_ she thought as the Maru finished transitioning back into normal space. _Just have to settle on the precise outer edge of the sensor drone's maximum effective range and then do some snooping._

It'd been almost two hours since she'd left Babylon Five but she hadn't spent that time just piloting the ship. She'd also been using a new verbal command program she'd installed to call up information on the rebel faction and the tech level the Sh'lassen's were at in comparison to what she had. Fortunately for her, the species seemed to be behind the Earth Alliance in terms of tech and that made their calling for help make sense. Once she'd pulled up a map of the system, she'd immediately began making educated guesses on where any security satellites and patrol ships might be so she could choose a proper exit point for the Maru and a place to spy from. Fortunately the Sh'lassen government was so busy dealing with the rebels that the majority of their patrol ships had been recalled to confront the malcontents. As for the security satellites, her ship had greater range than they did so she'd pick them up long before they saw her and it was easy to stay out of their sight.

She'd only need an hour max to get the information she needed on the rebel stronghold at Matok and she'd head back to B-Five to fill Xander and Rommie in.

She launched the sensor probe and, using the Maru's systems, guided it to its destination while skirting around anything technological that popped up on the edges of its range. It was a bit nerve wracking but thankfully the 'memories' of Mina Valentine kept it to a minimum since more than one mission had required advance intelligence in dangerous regions of space. Not all employers were kind enough to provide advance information on a target, nor did they feel particularly obligated to be flexible in how soon they wanted the job done. As a result Mina had been forced to do the research on her own and do it in a hurry, so pressure was nothing new to the cousin of Beka Valentine. To Willow Rosenberg, though, this was a different brand of pressure than what they'd usually dealt with fighting demons and vampires back in Sunnydale but she could handle it.

It took about fifteen minutes for the drone to reach planet Akdor and another three to get into a position over Matok but, once she did, she was able to begin her scans of the area.

What she found didn't improve her mood at all: The rebels had a line of anti-aircraft plasma guns lined up at the edge of the northern cliff face near the main building and, from what she could tell, they had a mechanism that'd let them swivel a bit to either side if needed. This covered a wide area and any attempt to bring in troop transports or gunships from the side would result in them being torn to shreds fairly quickly. A few might manage to successfully deploy their load of marines and stay airborne long enough to fire a few shots at the stronghold but they wouldn't last very long. The south approach wasn't much better with mines both beneath the surface and floating at random spots in the air, making it a death trap that could only be dismantled slowly. That would make the troops coming in that way sitting ducks for the heavy artillery she was seeing on that side of the stronghold.

The more she looked at the place, the less she believed that the twenty-five thousand troops staying at Babylon Five at the moment could handle it without incurring some serious losses. She could easily see half of the troops losing their lives here and to her that was far too much for her to just let slide by. She spent the next half hour getting as much information on the stronghold's defenses, its troop deployments and any aircraft it might have because to her there was only one thing to do.

Once she got back to the station she'd tell Xander that it was time for the Andromeda Ascendant to make her first ripples in the galactic pond.

Given the heavy cruiser's range, she had little doubt that they'd be able to keep anyone from seeing her since it was double what the Maru was capable of. Add to that the armaments and they'd be able to make short work of the defenses at Matok, leaving only something a little tougher than a training exercise for the Earthforce marines to handle when they arrived. It'd save lives and maybe earn them a favor or two if they decided to let General Franklin know that they'd helped him out a bit. True, the man's military mindset would probably make him suspicious as well as determined to find out how they'd managed to accomplish such a feat so she'd leave it to Xander to make the final call.

_Time to get going._ The sensor drone settled back into his compartment before the space was sealed, _I've got all the information I'm going to get without infiltrating the stronghold in person._

She brought the Maru about and flew through space, reaching the slip point for the system and allowing her to make the jump to slipsteam. Using instinct to guide her she navigated back to the remote system that almost no one visited and possessed the jump gate she'd used. One of the first things Xander had Rommie do once they'd come up with their cover was to tally the usage of every remote jump gate on record then make a list of the top five that had the lowest traffic of them all. These would be the ones they'd use whenever using the slipstream drive was necessary since it minimized the chances of a bystander spotting the rather flashy entrance into slipstream. Granted, the Maru's flashiness was much less than the Andromeda Ascendant's but it'd still be spotted if they used it in a more frequently travelled system. Xander had told them that for now they'd gather info, make friends and only when they had to would the High Guard heavy cruiser make its galactic debut. Her friend wanted to keep the ship's existence and capabilities a secret for as long as possible so as to give the enemy as little time as possible to come up with countermeasures.

_Not that we have any real clue how well she'll fare against one of their ships in the first place, of course!_ she thought, remembering her efforts to research the mysterious enemy the Vorlons wanted them to fight. _Would it have killed them to give us more than a couple of vid clips!?_

It'd been frustrating because there was only so much you could infer from video clips since all you could do was guesstimate things like speed, size, maneuverability and firepower. She knew that the Andromeda Ascendant was considered the most powerful warship back in her dimension and, based on what she knew of the warships in this dimension, the big girl had a decent advantage over them. However with the black spider-like vessels the enemy used, there were far too many uncertainties for her liking and things like that could wind up getting them killed if they weren't careful. In the end the only thing that really bothered her about the black ships was their powerful primary weapon that consisted of a steady purple beam weapon that sliced through ships like a hot knife through butter. She'd spent some time with lieutenant Refractions of Dawn so she'd gotten a decent idea of the Andromeda's speed and maneuvering ability but she was still uncertain whether it'd be enough to avoid those purple beams. Perhaps if they faced only one ship but if they took on more than one… she didn't like the images that her mind came up with.

_Here's hoping Refractions is doing the smart thing and putting herself through the training programs I came up with,_ she thought as she continued to fly along. _She's gonna need to be in top form when things heat up._

With the help of the ship's artificial intelligence she'd constructed training programs that involved every type of warship they had files on, as well as what they could guesstimate about the enemy spider ships. Everything from one on one battles to being hit with five at one time was incorporated, along with various objectives ranging from destroying all enemy ships to escaping an enemy ambush. True, it'd be the Andromeda manning the weapons but it'd be up to the Than pilot to evade enemy fire as best she could while getting the heavy cruiser into the best positions to accomplish the objective of the simulation. She hadn't talked to the bug in a few weeks but, the last time they did, she didn't think the helms-person was having too much difficulty with her training.

_Then again I'm not exactly fluent in Than-Thre-Kull body language or verbal tells, so I could be wrong, _she thought, idly recalling the past conversations. _Still, if anyone can pass with flying colors, it's her._

Too bad she couldn't say the same with her own training on the Maru.

_The old girl might be good but no matter how you slice it, she's still a cargo ship._ _She wasn't exactly built for heavy combat._

Maybe she should think about doing a few upgrades. Worth thinking about, at least.

_**Babylon 5, Red Sector, Hallways, Xander's POV**_

_Damn gropos! That's what you get when you start tossing the booze around a little too freely,_ he thought with a bit of irritation, still thinking about what had happened in his room a few hours ago. _Thanks to them the network in that entire area is shot for the next few days until maintenance gets to it._

Not that he was a couch potato or anything that couldn't live without his vids but it meant that he'd have to spend more time at the office in order to keep the business going. Normally he'd just have any incoming calls routed to his room when he wasn't at the office and that worked out fine but that would have to change for the next few days. Rommie had volunteered to cover the graveyard shift at the office as long as he promised to handle the morning to afternoon tomorrow. He'd readily agreed and thanked her for letting him still enjoy his little night off. He wasn't tired enough to sleep through until tomorrow and staying in his room didn't have near as much appeal as it used to, so going out had been the only option left. That was why he planned on spinning by the casino to play a few rounds there to both pass the time and perhaps make a few acquaintances while he was at it. According to what he'd heard, the Centauri ambassador frequented the place and, based on the conclusions Willow, Rommie and he had come to, it'd definitely be a good idea to keep an eye on the guy.

_Cordy wouldn't have lasted a day among the Centauri elite,_ he thought as he continued down the corridor. _And that's saying something._ _Scheming, planning, backstabbing, blackmail, extortion and just a bit of assassination._ _Any one of those things would provide an opening for those spiders to get their hooks into the Mollari._

It made him wonder how the Centauri were still as powerful as they currently were. All that infighting should've killed them off centuries ago.

Shrugging at the unimportant fact, he continued on his way and before long arrived. Looking about the place, he was glad to see that it wasn't as bad as some of the Las Vegas casino's he'd seen on TV as it seemed that someone with taste had been in charge of designing it. The place was certainly jumping with a mix of aliens, civilians and quite a few Earth force marines walking about, enjoying themselves. It wasn't so crowded that it'd make having any fun or getting around difficult so he calmly trotted down the stairs and decided he'd make his way to the booths to the side to transfer some credits into poker chips. It was the only real game he was any good at and Uncle Rory had told him he had some talent for the game the few times his relative had come by for a visit. He'd limit the amount to just a few hundred credits since he didn't want to bankrupt the business or get taken for too much. A couple of minutes later he was all set and ready for a bit of gambling fun where hopefully he'd manage to last a few games before losing everything.

As he entered the area where all the card tables were set up, he tried to see if there were any that had a vacancy or had people at it that wouldn't mind him joining in. Most tables were full but there was one in the corner with a seat empty so he made his way over there, hoping that he wasn't making the trip for nothing. At the moment the only people at it were two women and two guys with all of them wearing Earthforce uniforms, with the women in pilot outfits and the men wearing gropos uniforms. As he got closer he could tell that all four people still had a fair number of multi-colored poker chips to their name so, unless something happened, he'd be able to get a few games out of them. It took them a couple minutes to notice his approach but when he did get close he discovered a nice oddity about the two women that he hadn't noticed beforehand.

They were identical twins.

Both had golden hair done up into a braided tail that went down their backs and their facial features were spot on the same except for small tear drop tattoo one of them had under her left eye. It was a nice twist since he'd never before met a set of twins in person but he wouldn't let it get in the way of a good game. It'd present him with some nice eye candy to look at between hands and, if they tried to use their good looks to manipulate him, he'd turn their plans right back on them. After all, Uncle Rory had often told him that if your opponent expected you to react a certain way to their moves, why not use that to your own advantage?

"This game have an opening for one more?" he asked as he stopped just shy of the vacant chair.

"Depends. Can you pay the fifty credit buy in?" asked the gropos to the left of his position.

A quick glance at the reactions of the others told him that there was no buy in and that this guy was just trying to get some extra money from him.

"Sure. Right here," he said, holding up a chip.

"Then you're in. Name's Jenkins. You?" the gropos known as Jenkins asked with a raised eyebrow of curiosity.

"Alex Hunt. So what's the game?"

"Just straight poker," the other gropos replied before extending a friendly hand. "Carl Wilkins. We don't need any fancy add-ons in one of our games."

"Sounds simple enough," he said before turning his gaze to the two lady pilots. "You'll take it easy on the newbie right, ladies?"

Both of their uniforms had the last name 'Ryan' on their left breast pocket so he had at least that but he was interested in finding out if they had some sort of trick to their names that played off of each other.

"What do you think, Jeri?" asked the blonde with the tear drop tattoo. "Should we go easy with Mister Hunt to start off?"

"Why not, Jennifer? If we come on too strong in the beginning, he might get scared off and that wouldn't be any fun at all," Jeri replied with a smile on her face that told him right away that she liked trouble.

"Then I guess that's settled," he said, believing he had a basic read on each of his opponents now. "Let's play."

With that each of them anted up and Jenkins dealt out the cards at a speed that indicated he had quite a bit of experience at the card table. That meant he'd have to keep a watchful eye on the man since some of the more basic tricks Rory had taught him probably wouldn't work. Fortunately Tony's brother usually preferred spending time with him than his sibling during the visits so the older man had ample time to teach him all the tricks. Looking to see how Carl picked up his cards, he saw the guy immediately rearrange the positions of several in his hand, making him the kind of guy that preferred order and structure. It'd probably mean he'd play pretty straightforward and get thrown by anything unconventional or sneaky. As for the ladies, they were harder to read because there was nothing really one way or another that made them out to be experts or amateurs in the game of Poker. The lack of… of a label, it bothered him and made the two of them seem like more of a threat than the two men combined because he'd learned in Sunnydale that that which is unknown is the most dangerous of all.

_Well… nothing ventured, nothing gained,_ he said as he looked at his hand to see how good it was. _Three eights with a king and an ace. Not bad. Depending on how dirty Jenkins is, he might toss me good hands on purpose to get me overconfident._

He really hoped that that wasn't the case and this would be a fair, down the middle poker game because if Uncle Rory was right, the more someone cheated, the more pissed they'd be if they lost in spite of their amoral actions.

"First bet's yours, Hunt," Jenkins said, causing everyone else at the table to look at him.

_Best start out with something small to test the waters._ He tossed in two chips of the lowest possible value.

Everyone but Jenkins seemed alright with the bet, adding further evidence to the possibility that the man intended to clean him out and might very well use underhanded tricks to do so. Right then he made sure to be borderline paranoid where the man was concerned and anytime he got a hand weaker than a full house to fold rather than bet more. With a bit of luck this would throw Jenkins off his game plan a little and provide him with an opening to turn the tables on the guy.

Tossing the king away, he waited for the dealer to give him his new card and, surprise of surprises, it was another ace. Was it luck or was it Jenkins giving him the perfect starting hand?

_Only one way to find out._ He tossed in three chips of the middle variety.

Everyone matched his bet and, when the cards were laid on the table, he found that he'd won the hand and the pot. It wasn't all that big either in value or in size but he pulled it towards the rest of his chips just the same and quickly organized them into stacks. Giving a single glance to his opponents, he concluded that, just like him, they analyzed their opponents every movement to give them an idea of who they were up against.

Too bad for them he had some experience in hiding behind the mask of a fool when necessary.

"Well will you look at that!" he said doing his best to sound more excited than he really was. "Beginner's luck!"

"Looks like Lady Luck is taking a shine to you, Hunt," Jenkins said with a friendly grin that didn't reach his eyes.

"Yep! Here's hoping we stay friends 'til tomorrow."

When he saw both Carl and Jenkins look at each other with 'what an idiot' grins on their faces, he knew he had them and on the inside his inner devil was dancing a jig at the amount of money he'd be taking these guys for.

Sure, it was mean but, considering that they had intended to do the same thing to him, he wouldn't feel too bad leaving them penniless.

_**The Andromeda Ascendant, Dawn's Quarters, Two Hours Later, Dawn's POV**_

"Andromeda? Hook up to the usual communications satellites and get Xander on the line, please," she said as she settled into her plush chair with a flexi in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.

"Connecting."

It'd been a busy two weeks for her since she'd been preparing for the Andromeda's official test to see if she'd sufficiently mastered the skills of a paramedic for humans to use them on a real person. Two hours ago the ship's artificial intelligence contacted her and let her know that she had not only passed but almost achieved a perfect score on the test as well. Only two questions had been answered incorrectly and she swore that the errors were so miniscule that they wouldn't affect a patient in the least. Andromeda had disagreed but had nevertheless congratulated her on her on her achievement before suggesting that she pay a visit to the hydroponic garden. Knowing that the suggestion had the hidden meaning of telling her mother that she'd passed, she'd raced through the corridors of the ship, taking shortcuts where she could and, as she'd found out at the end, using her tail effectively without realizing it. When she'd arrived, though, she'd discovered a surprise she hadn't been expecting but immensely enjoyed nevertheless.

On a long rectangular table was a spread of sweets and various finger goods that she absolutely loved, with a cake in the center with the words 'Congratulations Dawn' on it. They'd spent the next hour and a half celebrating but then she'd decided to retire for the night but not before contacting Xander and letting him know the good news. After all, becoming a certified paramedic for four of the members of the Babylon Five Advisory Council was one of the conditions that the captain had set if she wanted to come to the station rather than be stuck on the Andromeda. Of course the day after he'd left on the Maru with Willow and Rommie, she'd figured out that Xander had figured it take her years to reach that goal, thus sneakily finding a way to keep her distracted.

Boy, would he be in for a surprise.

It had happened gradually over the last few weeks but, every time it happened, it got stronger and easier to make sense of much to her excitement. From what she'd seen of the show Trance was often portrayed as a precog but, as she'd found out, that wasn't quite right. It'd be more accurate to say that she could perceive the universe as a whole, without any temporal restrictions like 'past' or 'future', and using a special plant she'd found in her quarters after coming out of temporal freeze, she could manipulate time to a degree. She was still learning how to control it, to master it, but it was a lot harder than she could have ever anticipated. Even with the memories of her Halloween personae at her disposal, learning to perceive the universe was not an easy task even when limiting herself to the 'present'. She got flashes of images, sounds, smells, thoughts and emotions but, in the beginning, they went by so fast she couldn't make heads or tails out of them. As of yesterday she was capable of identifying half of what she tapped into but that wasn't enough to make sense of the whole picture since it was like looking at a jigsaw puzzled with large, gaping holes in the picture.

Still, she was getting better at it and, when she'd gained enough control over it, she was certain she'd be able to use it to speed up her studying of medicine exponentially. Perhaps she'd even be able to surpass the skills of a mere paramedic and become a true doctor in every sense of the word. With a little work and a lot of luck she might even be able to finally go to Babylon Five in person within six months and shock Xander completely.

THEN she'd be able to put her secondary agenda into motion before it was too late.

Not once since she'd gotten her body upgrade Halloween night had she given up on her dream of successfully winning Xander's heart and getting him to see her as his one true soul mate. In the beginning she'd thought that she'd be able to get that done in a few weeks but, after the initial excitement at her new opportunities wore off, she realized that she'd have to do some growing up mentally as well. Xander wouldn't want to date a girl with the mind of kid no matter how smoking hot her body happened to be, so she had to grow up in how she looked at things as well as how she behaved. With that in mind she'd started reading the same sort of things that Buffy and Willow did, as well as watching the same sort of shows on television. She also paid close attention to how her two examples acted when the group came together to discuss things and afterwards did her best to mimic them in her room. She knew it'd take a bit to convince the object of her affections to see her the way she wanted to but she was determined to do it before someone else got in her way.

She knew that Willow had her eyes set on making Xander hers and she knew that Xander had been checking out Rommie every once in a while as well. Given the amount of time the three of them had no doubt been spending with each other since first leaving the Andromeda Ascendant, she knew that she had a lot of catching up to do but she was determined to succeed. However, with every day that passed, she could feel her chance slipping away and that was why she had a flexi containing medical information on Centauri physiology. She figured that with things heating up between the Centauri and the Narns, it was likely she'd be working on both of them sooner rather than later. Why was she choosing the scheming aristocrats firsts? Simple: they'd be more useful when the war got started then the Narn. The lizard-like people might be great from a military standpoint but they were all rage, honor and, despite what they might claim, they were better at being resistance fighters than real soldiers. In a direct conflict she didn't see them managing to win against their former oppressors so it was logical that they'd fare the same against the enemy the Vorlons wanted them to fight.

So basically, because the Centauri were so cunning, something honed through centuries of trying to one up each other by any means necessary, they'd be better suited to helping the crew out when necessary.

The Narns would probably be next on her list after the Centauri since, in her mind, they made better infantry than the Centauri and, once she'd learned how to heal them, she'd move onto the Minbari. Personally she didn't like the Minbari all that much because, while some of their ways of looking at things were cool, she didn't agree one bit with their reasons for declaring war on the human race. Sure, Dukat was a great leader and all but to hunt an entire race with the intent of rendering them extinct as recompense was INSANE. At most they should've just been satisfied with the lives of the people on the ship that did the deed in the first place but instead they'd launched attack after attack against the Earth Alliance until humanity had been forced all the way back to Earth. As a result, even eleven years after the end of the war, there were still humans who hated the Minbari and, even worse, the war had caused some to hate all aliens even if they hadn't done a thing during the war.

"Odd. I am unable to establish a connection with the captain's room on Babylon 5," Andromeda said through the speakers in the room. "I'll try the office instead."

This time the connection went through almost instantly and the face of Rommie appeared, looking like she had been in the middle of some sort when the call came through.

"Hey, Dawn!" Rommie said with genuine happiness. "How are your studies coming?"

"Good. Your 'sister' just passed me to work on humans two hours ago," she replied, deciding a little polite chit-chat was okay. "I'm starting on Centauri next so, with a little luck, I'll be able to learn what I need to know in the same amount of time."

"Really? How are you learning it all so fast?" Rommie asked, genuinely surprised at the achievement. "From what I know it usually takes two years, not a few months."

"Andromeda trimmed away anything that didn't have something to do with battlefield injuries or wartime stuff and that cut some of the time off," she replied, remembering what the A.I had told her at the beginning. "As for the rest… well, nano-meds make a lot of what is in the current textbooks meaningless. After allthere's no real reason to cut someone open if all you have to do is scan the patient, program the nano-meds and then inject them. Pretty much all that's left is 'yes, it is safe to put this into them' and 'DO NOT PUT THAT IN THEM YOU IDIOT'."

She may have oversimplified things a bit but that summary was mostly accurate.

"I guess so," Rommie said, still sounding like she had her doubts. "So, how can I help you?"

"I was trying to get in contact with Xander to let him know but your 'sister' couldn't connect to his room," Dawn replied, hoping something serious hadn't happened. "Something happen?"

"Nothing serious. For the last while Babylon 5 has been playing host to twenty-five thousand Earthforce marines and one of them managed to short out the network in the area our rooms are in," Rommie replied with a bit of annoyance both in expression and in tone. "Interrupted movie night, though."

"Movie night?" she asked, internally concerned by what that could imply.

"We were all a little suspicious of there being twenty-five thousand marines on the station all of a sudden so, after Willow decided to do some snooping, Xander invited me back to his room to watch some movies that were produced after we 'left' Earth," Rommie replied with a bit of a grin on her face. "It was fun. Dylan and I might've had a strong friendship but never once did he ask to spend some time with me like that. I liked it."

"Good," she said even though on the inside a bit of concern was bubbling up.

She'd known that Xander had been looking at Rommie every once in a while when they were all aboard the Andromeda and she could see why considering how hot the android looked in leather. However she had never really considered the gynoid a threat since the High Guard rule against an A.I dating her captain and the Pax Magellanic should've been damn good enough to keep any romance from happening. However the image of the two of them on a couch enjoying some movies together was enough to get her teenage jealousy to pay attention and the fact that Rommie seemed to have really enjoyed it only made things worse. Now, a rational person would've simply considered the whole thing nothing more than a captain choosing to get closer to the avatar in a friendship centered way. For a newly fully developed young woman with a desire to become Mrs. Dawn Hunt that had been around since she began to notice boys… rational thinking was difficult to say the least.

Still, it'd probably be best to get the whole story and that meant talking to Xander and hearing his description of events. If it genuinely turned out to be a case of him just wanting to hang out with a friend, she'd let it go as just that. However if it actually turned out that he'd been trying to put the moves on the android and Rommie simply hadn't caught on, she'd have to find a way to get to Babylon 5 sooner so she could keep things from getting any worse.

"Does Xander have his communicator with him?" she asked, thinking of a way to speak with her future husband. "You could patch me through it so I could tell him the good news."

"While he does have it, we can't use it in the station," Rommie replied with a bit of regret. "We found out the first time we used them that their signal is strong enough to disrupt the communications hand links used by Earthforce personnel. Xander decided that until we could iron out that problem we wouldn't be using them for anything less than an emergency."

_DAMMIT! _she thought angrily without letting it show on her face. _There's no way I can trump up an emergency big enough on the spot!_

"Fortunately the maintenance crew that's handling the problem said they'd have everything back up in the next day or two," Rommie said, taking no heed of what was going on in the purple teenager's head. "He'll be in the office tomorrow around oh eight hundred local time so you can call him then to give him the good news."

"I guess so," she said, barely able to keep her disappointment to a minimum. "See you later, Rommie."

She severed the communications link and let her true emotions show in the form of a snarl of anger and a bit of pacing after she got out of her chair. Her tail unconsciously thrashed in irritation at the discovery of an unforeseen rival and, after a single look at the flexi in her hand, she threw it onto the bed. In the mood she was in there was no way she'd be able to focus on studying. Instead she changed into her workout clothes and set course for the punching bag in the ship's gym since pounding on it for a few hours was just what the doctor ordered.

The fact that she'd be picturing both Xander and Rommie's face every time she hit it was only an afterthought in her mind.


End file.
